GABRIELLE PARÉ

“Mestiza” is my inheritance from my grandfather. This word is a classification, an identity, and it is applied to bodies with mixed backgrounds. It’s also a deeply problematic word. Used in all Spanish colonies, this Spanish word is a colonial construct that carries with it the baggage of whitening a race and westernizing a culture. 

The mestiza exists between to two different states:

{ White } and { Brown }
{ assimilation } and { ancestry }
{ reclamation of identity } and { self-orientalizing }

In my own experience, I relate the word “mestiza” to:

{ the colonial term } and { my grandfather’s term of endearment }

My practice is rooted in the spaces between alienation and embrace, heritage and assimilation. Through text and lens-based works, I problematize terms in an effort to decolonize them.