United Colors is excited to present a solo exhibition by Kiki Serna.
Listen to the conversation via KKFI: Artspeak Radio

“When you migrate, you leave yourself behind. A copy of yourself, a “fantasma,” is left in your homeland. I believe that part of the immigrant experience is recovering fractured pieces of yourself - not only are we retrieving, but we’re also reclaiming, mending, and patching together pieces of our former and future selves. The trauma and pain that is assembled and attached to us during migration splits us into many pieces. We’re left to search, find, and gather fragments of ourselves for the rest of our lives - this is the focus of my studio practice. As a DACA recipient, daughter of undocumented parents, and a practicing artist, I research the themes inside the immigrant experience. I’m attracted to the idea of the ghost as a metaphor for the complexities and segments found therein. The ghosts of our younger selves, our past homes, memories, those who live invisibly in America, and those we have lost during our passage to the American Dream. Through this, I focus on fragmented memories, disillusionment, absence, linguistics through text, and familial mementos. Anonymity is normalized in the undocumented diaspora - there's a hazy veil in memories, and a wish to respect and immortalize the life left behind. I treat my drawings, videos, and collages with these perspectives. Family love letters faxed across the border, photographs, home videos, and other autobiographical items are re-used and on display within my work. Often, in immigrant communities, we’re taught to keep everything ephemera - to collect and to archive.