Ilse is an undocumented student in college. She and her family have been farmworker organizers in Homestead for over 10 years. She has used this experience to continue to organize with other youth in her community to combat anti-immigrant bills that can harm her and her family.
Ilse helps run her family-owned business on the weekends and continues her studies on weekdays. She has been able to overcome the hardships in her life and graduated high school. Ilse hopes that her advocating will lead to her having status so that she may travel the world and visit her family in Mexico.
In her time off she sketches while listening to music. Her biggest inspirations of her artwork are taken from her day-to-day life experiences.
Artist statement:
The beach
“I made this painting to capture my heritage and culture and my country. They are images from places my parents have seen, walked through, and lived in. Having never seen these places myself, this painting was made to create nostalgia through the memories of my parents. This is one of my most personal paintings.”
Diversity
“Just as the title suggests, I made this painting to demonstrate the diversity of all of us. Different faces, each with distinct colors, expressions, and lives we can only imagine. This painting is supposed to show that we can never really paint people as they are.”
Flower
“This piece is made to represent how I view myself, my personality and character. This painting gives vision to individualism and self-reliance with a simple delicate flower over a split background. It shows a uniqueness of my character and the potential that I have in life.”
