Jonathan Christensen Caballero

ARtist Statement

My art is based on my personal identity, which was formed both by watching my parents  support the family through labor jobs as well as by my mother, who emigrated from Panama.  The personal is political and I feel a moral imperative to create art that critiques the oppression  of Latin American laborers in the United States. My figures give representation to people who  contribute to society at the cost of their physical bodies. For this reason, my sculpture is rooted  in Latin American identity and socioeconomic status.  

My artwork is able to narrate enduring questions of identity through the use of the human  figure, pre-Columbian iconography, and mixed-media sculpture. The figurative sculpture I make  is driven by questions of inclusion versus exclusion. Who benefits from the American dream?  Who is allowed representation, visibility, and to feel a sense of belonging? Why is the Latin  American community forced to remain invisible and to always be perceived as the outsider?  My figurative sculpture critiques the oppression of Latin American laborers in this country and  advocates for my community’s representation by revealing both the plight of the proletariat as  well as the resilience of immigrants.

Exhibitions