Sol Diaz-Peña Here All Along

Here All Along in Lawndale’s John M. O’Quinn Gallery is a collection of new work by Sol Diaz-Peña, created during their time as a 2023/2024 Artist Studio Program participant brought forth by a journey of rematriation to their Zapotec roots in Oaxaca, Mexico.

This exhibition features the artist’s multidisciplinary work based in painting, photography, light, and textile, to “explore internal boundlessness, collective cultural experiences, and the poetic relationship between nature and humanity.”

In the crepuscular glow of a setting or rising sun, the artist’s installation features a series of photographs and cochineal-dyed paper that hang in the air like papel picado: the Mexican art of colorful cut tissue paper often strung together to create banners during celebrations. Printed on translucent cloth, Diaz-Peña’s photos depict lush greenery, intimate gardens, and familial places. Alongside these works is a series of paintings featuring still lifes and self-portraits that consider the Japanese concept of ‘Ma’ in their creation. Diaz-Peña regards the edges, margins, and negative spaces of their compositions as sites of exploration and experimentation. This exploration coincides with an intentional journey of rematriation to their Zapotec roots in Oaxaca, Mexico.

“Evoking diasporic and gender variant experiences, I combine fragmentary images of people and scenes, illuminating the in-betweenness of identity. I utilize multifaceted visual symbols across painting, photography, and interactive community projects to explore internal boundlessness, collective cultural experiences, and the poetic relationship between nature and humanity. My approach to art making is influenced by “Rasquachismo,” a Chicano art movement that embodies resistance and resilience in the face of adversity, as well as “Ma,” a Japanese concept referring to the gaps and intervals of time, space, and being.” – Sol Diaz-Peña

Sol Diaz-Peña is a contemporary artist and community organizer whose work encompasses a multidisciplinary practice grounded in painting and photography.

Diaz-Peña has exhibited work throughout their native city of Houston, Texas, including Project Row Houses, Houston City Hall, BOX 13 ArtSpace, FLATS, Arts and Culture Lab, Wedge Space, and Sawyer Yards. They have been awarded residencies at Lawndale Art & Performance Center, Artists’ Literacy Institute (New York), and Project Row Houses (Houston). In 2021, they were a recipient of the Idea Fund award for their project The Place I Know; most recently, they were awarded a place in On Communities Masterclass with Magnum Photos and Houston Center of Photography. 

Since 2021, Diaz-Peña has been a co-organizer of Open MFA, an artist collective that provides community, dialogue, and cross-disciplinary collaboration for artists based in the Houston area. As part of their work with OpenMFA, they will be part of a forthcoming exhibition at Asia Society Texas Center and exhibiting with Blaffer Art Museum in the 2024 Texas Biennial. In 2024, their work was published in New American Paintings no. 174, West Issue. Diaz-Peña received a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a concentration in Critical Race Studies from University of Houston – Downtown.

Installation images of Here All Along by Tamirah Collins