Meet the inaugural cohort for our Artists in Radical Residency (AIRR) program, Andrea Flores and Juan Solis!
Andrea (she/her) is from the Mission/Alton area. Her project centers memory, loss, and inevitable change within her immediate community and in her personal life. Her community offering will utilize collective memory and personal archives to understand the connections folks have to local businesses in the Mission/Palmview area that no longer exist (date TBA in October).
Juan (he/him) is from Brownsville. His project focuses on artistic practice and creative writing. Inspired by The Savage Detective by Roberto Bolaño, Juan wishes to create a multi-narrative experimental documentary about artistic practice. He will be facilitating a creative writing workshop as his community offering (date TBA in November).
Do you have a childhood memory that is significant to you?
AF: When I was little, like around 1st grade, I remember I crawled to our living room after my mom had already put us to sleep. My mom was there and she was watching a scary movie in the dark, so I crawled behind the couches and sat down in a corner where I could see the TV screen while still being hidden. I remember feeling all happy because I was finally going to be able to watch one of these movies that my mom would only let us see every now and when she was feeling a little wild. I had been there for a few minutes when my mom said, “Ya se que estas alliii.” I got so scared that I just crawled back to my room without saying anything. I think it’s really funny and nice how she didn’t even tell me to leave either. It’s such a random memory but it comes up more and more nowadays.
JS: I have a vivid memory of several of my family members and I accompanying my uncle to a bruja’s reading while in Mexico. I’m naturally skeptical about these things, but she was so exact in her reading that this memory has always stayed with me. No one else in my family remembers this. The idea of it being a false memory threatens to shatter my whole conception of identity.
What are you currently inspired by?
AF: I’m currently really inspired by the phrase “vuelve a mi.” It’s something that originally came to mind the very first time that I wished my mom could come back to us. It was a really overwhelming feeling. It kept repeating in my head when I would think about other things that I felt were changing and being lost in my life, and when I felt like I was getting further from myself too. It kind of represents these three different things now, which is starting to make me feel a sense of interconnectedness that I hadn’t really felt before.
JS: Seeing my nephews experience things for the first time with total exuberance. The interplay of late sunlight, foliage, and shadows. The promise of cold nights around a campfire with friends and a flask of whiskey.
What do you consider to be the most special thing about living in/being from the Rio Grande Valley?
AF: Something that I think is really special about being from the valley is how my family has been living here for about 50 years now. I hadn’t actually realized it had been that long until now. My grandparents moved here and brought everybody over, so my mom and all my tios and tias grew up in the valley. I was raised on the stories of these two generations, and just like they did, I am now witnessing how the things that I thought would last forever come and go. It actually really sucks, to realize how change is a cycle that repeats and that we can’t really stop it. But it’s interesting to know that this experience of loss and newness and change and loss again, is shared between all of us. I don’t think it’s an experience limited to here, but I think the valley is so special so I’d like to think that experiencing this here specifically, is really special too. There’s really nowhere else like here.
JS: In a time when globalization has flattened culture by immeasurable degrees, there are still pockets across the Rio Grande Valley that stand defiant against these forces. I’m reminded of the strangeness of walking into one of the small meat markets around town after a monotonous week. Bobby Pulido blasting from some distant backroom. The heavy‑handed scent of detergent and Fabuloso. Gleaming piles of limes; you pick the best ones by pressing softly just like your mother taught you. It’s the feeling of being reeled back into yourself.
Join us at Harlingen Art Night this month, Friday September 27th, for a chance to meet the artists and learn more about their work!
Andrea and Juan’s projects will debut at ENTRE’s end of the year celebration on Friday December 27th, so mark your calendars and stay tuned!
