Eva y Eva Haciendo el Amor Ante Dios. Ha ha ha.

This was the first linoleum block I created in my artistic career.

It depicts two women making love in the Garden of Eden. Even as a teenager, I was really turned off by the Catholic Church. I wanted to reimagine and make fun of some of the core stories the Church tells, especially those about shame as it relates to sex.

I created this linoleum block in a class at UC Berkeley, where I was attending undergrad at the time. I was taking a Chicana Studies course taught by Laura Elisa Pérez, a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies. She invited a guest instructor to speak to us - Yreina Cervantez, a Chicana artist who is known for her multimedia painting, murals, and printmaking. Yreina taught us about decoloniality, Indigenous wisdom, and rejecting the colonial narratives many of us have been fed in Latine culture.

One of our first assignments was to create a linoleum block print. This is the piece I made.

She was so impressed by my piece that she pulled me aside and told me I had real talent. She invited me to join an all-women’s print portfolio project at Self Help Graphics in Los Angeles—which, at the time, was the premiere center for Chicano and Latine artists from across the country.

This piece is significant because it was the piece that opened the doors of art for me. It helped me realize I had a natural talent for printmaking. And it was the recognition from a Latina artist and professor that truly launched me onto my path as an artist.