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ARTS
Monuments to Maryvale:
How multidisciplinary artist Yaritza Flores Bustos Transforms Memory into Monument
Interview by Andrea Quinto and Anitah Imani Photos by Marina Luz Reyes
Styling by Dennay King
Hair by Priscilla Urrutia
Yari: There's definitely language that I use to speak on it. I think something that I've always stuck to is that it's a way for me to honor where I come from and where I've grown up and the people that inhabit those places. It's a meditation in many ways. It feels like ceremony, devotional in many aspects. And it's a practice that is rooted in healing and intention. I would say my mediums range, I know that I'm predominantly known for working with ceramics, because that's what I've been working with most in the past few years. But prior to this, I was working with a lot of found materials. It's kind of the direction that I'm going back to currently, and I'll always work with clay. It's a driving force for me, and it's been very necessary for my practice. And I think my development as a person, and as an artist. My mediums range, so I wouldn't ever consider myself just a ceramics artist. I would always just say I'm a multimedia artist or interdisciplinary.
A: And what would you say those things are you're trying to heal. Where are the things that you're interested in?
Y: In order to fully understand my practice and how I approach it, where I come from is huge. I was born in Mexico. I was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and I migrated to the states when I was two, and I've lived in Phoenix my whole life, ever since migrating. But for a large portion of my life I was undocumented, and I now have temporary protection through a program called DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival. So my understanding of land, and mobility as a whole, and navigation, and really every aspect of my life is completely altered because of my status and because of this decision made to migrate. My parents wholeheartedly believed in a future for us all, so much so that we left our home and all that comes with it. They did this so my sibling and I could have a better life and more opportunities, and so that they could also have a better life. But there's always just been this disconnect to the land here, and so a lot of my work is tied to that. It’s tied to only knowing things at a distance because of my status.
A: How has the topic of being a migrant figuring out trans border relationships evolved in your career?
Y: I grew up in Maryvale, on the west side of Phoenix. Ever since we migrated, we lived on the West side. Maryvale is predominantly a migrant community. I've never felt othered for who I am, or have felt out of place in any way, because I grew up around people that were experiencing the same thing that I was, so I never felt less than. In many ways, I didn't feel that way. There's moments that I look to and I remember where I realize how my identity was being shaped, or how my understanding of life here is being shaped. But I never felt like who I was, was “wrong”. Until you start to learn the language being developed or utilized to perceive us as a whole. But Maryvale, for me, was everything, and it still is. And so the current work that I do, and the figurative work that I've been attending to, is about Maryvale. It's about the only home that I've ever really known, not because I wanted it that way, but because that's how it's been, because I haven't had the ability to go back home and learn and experience where I come from and who I am because of it.
A: So in an interview that you did with LVL3, you were talking about the sacredness that you have in the studio, and it's really cool that you have this here right now. But there was this sense of wanting to protect it a little bit, maybe talk about the importance of this space.
Y: So our previous studio was my first studio, and Sam's first studio, ever. And prior to that, I only ever worked in institutions as a student, and I had a lot of access to studio spaces through institutions. But I've always also had to be confronted with being pushed out of spaces, so this was my first time having something of my own.
Because of that I wanted to hold it near and dear. I navigate my work in that way too. And I'm trying to unlearn not sharing my work prior to it being fully finished. A fear that evil intentions, ill intentions will be put onto the work. So I think because of that, because of how hard I've worked to have a space of my own, I wanted it to just be sacred and something that I let people into. It's not something that everybody has access to.
A: I kind of wanted to touch on your friendship with Sam and your relationship with Sam in the studio. First, I want to understand a little bit more how it even came to be that you guys are in this space together, and then we'll go from there.
Y: I got a grant, and I was working on bigger works, working towards that, and I didn't have space anywhere to work on that. And it was also a pivot within my practice. So I wanted a place where I could dedicate myself to that new body of work. I put feelers out, and Sam and I have known each other for a while, by being in orbit with each other, through Palabra and Futuro, which is how we met.
A: Oh wow. That place connects so many people, so many artists in the city. But I didn't know that's how you guys met, because that's how I met her, too.
Y: I was working there for a bit, for a while. We'd always just be in community together. We shared a lot of laughs and slowly started getting closer, relating to each or seeing ourselves within each other.
She had just gotten a studio, and she told me that there was another space open in the building, and I went to go look at it, but I wasn't convinced. And then she said, ‘What if we share? I was like ‘I'm down.’ Yeah, it kind of just went from there. Our studio got damaged because of the rains, so then we moved out, but this space popped up and this is everything on the list that we wanted.
A: So this is your second space together, technically? Was that like after that huge rainstorm that we had this past summer?
Y: Yea I would say this was around June. I started looking, and this one popped up. I think the following week we signed the lease, but it happened really fast, and it just felt very serendipitous in many ways, and destined. We both really found ourselves in this space. We've really made it our own. And it just really feels like a studio, it feels like a safe space. Coming in here feels so different compared to our other one.
A: Tell me a little bit about the energy of the space that you guys are cultivating actively. And also, how has working together contributed to what you're working on right now. Have you guys started to inform each other's works? I'm sure it's been that way since meeting each other and just respecting and appreciating each other's work, but it's different when you can see the process that goes into it. And I'm curious if that's affected the way that you approach making work too.
Y: Yeah, 100%. I mean Sam's like my sister. I love her so much, and I feel so lucky to be able to share space with her, and to co-create and to have our friends come over. I think that space was also necessary, because we also learned that we needed to invest in ourselves fully, in order to really go forth with our practices. You'll find the space to make no matter what you want to do, but just thinking about our previous studio in comparison to this, this just feels so much more light and we could be here all day. It doesn’t feel like we've been working hard, but it just feels really tender. I don't know how else to describe it.
The first day that we were in the studio together, we were in there for probably five hours straight, just talking about what we were thinking of, and what we wanted to make, and what we wanted to accomplish. And I don't think I've ever aligned so much with somebody and dreamed. It feels really special. I'm endlessly grateful to have her in my life and to come in here, and for us to play and create alongside each other and world build. It's sacred.
A: It feels like you guys really love it here. Going off of that, beyond your relationship with Samantha, I wanted to ask you about just in general, the relationships with women in your life. You have this safe space to invite some of your other artist friends in to work on things together. But how does the community of women that you surround yourself with in your life contribute to your work?
Y: My mom is my best friend in the whole world. And I don't think I touched on it enough, but, my community is everything to me. The place that I grew up is everything to me, and the place that I come from is everything to me. It's always the people. And obviously, that's what makes a place home. I don't have much. I don't have any family in the States. So it's always been my chosen family, my friendships, and the women in my life, that's my family. I've always had the best friends in the whole world. I think that my relationship to women is so special and huge to who I am because of the relationship I have with my mom.
I confide in her about everything. She's seen me become who I am, but I've also become who I am because I've seen her grow into herself. My dad migrated a few months before us; She came here with my brother and I, and she always talks about this, but back home, she wasn't very fully independent, I would say, from my father. And I think that's also just the culture back home. But here, she really became herself, because she had no other choice. She was by herself, everything that she knew and the comforts that she had, like my grandparents, everybody, stayed home, and so she quickly learned how to stand up for herself. I also witnessed her with friendships and heartbreaks through friendships and how she navigated them, and how she navigates the world in general.
I don't think I could ever not think of women and my relationship to them because of who she is and because of how she raised me. So even with friendships that I have also transitioned out of, I will always look to those moments with all the love and respect. The girls in my life right now are saving me. “Parallel Play Mondays” is when we come together, this is our second one. This is when we come together and we work on the things that we love, and we gossip and we cry and we laugh. The friendships that I have right now are what I've always dreamed of. And I think a lot of my life right now is what I've always dreamed of. It feels really insane to say.
A: You've accomplished a lot. I remember the first time I saw your work was at the Phoenix Art Museum. And then to see your work transition into Palabra, I'm like, ‘Oh, she's that one’. But it's for a reason. Your work so deeply resonates with the culture and the community that you come from in Maryvale.
Y: Yea, and womanhood is central in every way. I’m learning as I age, just how to be a better sister for the women in my life, and how to be a better person, and how to nurture each other more and how to hold space for everybody. I don't think I highlight it enough in my work. I think I recently started to within my sculptures. I made two girls together recently, my first time working on that. And that was me also, within my work, thinking about connection. My first ceramic collection was the pieces at the museum, and I was deeply focused on Maryvale as a place. And there was one girl, and everything else was mostly guys/boys, which it's interesting to think about and to consider. But then when I continued to develop my practice and deepen it, I knew that I wanted to focus on that. And so for sure, going forward, it's something that I'm working towards doing, in a more accurate way. I think it's there, but I wouldn't personally say it's the focal point just yet. How do you see it?
A: I feel like I've been seeing it through your recent work, and just also like knowing the girls in your orbit too. One piece specifically that you just shared, the one with two girls.
So I just ask if that was something specific you’re exploring, because it seems like having a studio space with Samantha, and then also the context of all the community work that you've been doing this year as well, it could be a present perspective you’re exploring. Even being at the “Down For Mines” show that you curated, there were a lot of women in the community that you highlighted as well.
Y: It's for sure shaped the way that I navigate the world in every way. And the conversations that I had with women and my community, those, for sure are central to how I think through my work and how I approach it. But I do want to be able to get to that point where you can see it.
A: Do you feel like you have a different focal point of your work?
Y: I think my work is more so about community in general and autonomy.
A: You've done solo art projects, but you've also done community projects, like “Down For Mines”, or “Labor”. How is that informed your aspirations for the future and current, like the community work that you've done so far?
Y: I don't think any part of who I am would ever feel content if I didn't invest my time in the people and the places that hold me. I think I've been very lucky and had a lot of privileges in that I've always felt very supported and cared for and looked after. And I would never be where I'm at had my parents not made the decision to leave. And that was never easy for them, and it still is never going to be easy. It's hard every day. It's something that we kind of reckon with on a day to day basis, and some days it feels heavier, and some days it feels a little bit more manageable and something that we can navigate.
But our success, or I would rather say, our survival has been possible because of the community that we've established. Because of that, I couldn't ever imagine not wanting to give back or to do my share of setting or continuing the work that they've done.
A: Has there been a specific project that you've been working on in terms of continuing that?
Y: Everything that we've done with “Labor”, for sure, was that materialized in the most beautiful way. We held it at the Maryvale Community Center. I would go there every day after school, and that's where I would wait for my parents to pick me up after school. Instead of going home, my brother would go to the basketball court, which is where the event was. And then I would be in the library or in the community center where they had board games and stuff. But I spent the majority of my youth there.
And to go back as an adult and know what I lacked and be able to give that is still something that I don't have the language to fully explain. I think just being able to do that felt like an answered prayer in many ways.
Labor isn’t on a hiatus or anything, but we want to move forward with intention and integrity and for everything that we do, to be fully worked and thought out. So it's taken some time. It was also a huge undertaking that we did. Immediately after that, I had the “Down for Mines” show with Antonio, so I was a little burnt out. We still talked and we're still planning things, but again we want to move forward with intention. We don't ever want to fall short of what we know we're capable of.
A: With Trump's administration and his violent immigration policies, have you felt the need to address that in your work?
Y: I wouldn't say just because of Trump, but I've definitely, reckoned with my work and its necessity, and sometimes have felt it falls short. Sometimes I feel, and I don't feel this right now, but sometimes I do question how necessary making work is with the political climate that we're in and everything that's going on. I think being an artist in many ways can be a very selfish act. I don't think I approach my practice in a way that's selfish, but it's something that I constantly have to work through. I wouldn't say that my parents are disappointed that I've gone in this path as an artist, but obviously as migrants, they have always had a dream of me being an immigration lawyer and doing something a little bit more tangible. And so I do question it, and not just my work, but art in general. Because obviously the times that we're living in right now are very difficult, but I think that the way that I try to ground myself always is that my work celebrates resilience and resistance and joy, and that's not what is intended for us.
A: We've talked about your tangible art, although I think this is more past work, your social media visuals that you've done for vending or for just events. Do you have a specific style? Where do you get your influences for that and what inspires you?
Y: Mexico, in every way. A lot of how I got into the graphic work that I was doing was I would go on Google Maps, because that was the only way that I could see where I was from that felt more in real time, in some ways. Growing up, I would always just go on Google Maps and see where I was from, and walk around and see where my family frequents, and the places that my parents have mentioned to me. And there’s just a very specific visual vernacular that was born out of Mexico, and I was able to see how that also came here.
And so it always just felt natural for me to integrate that into my own visual language. That's kind of it, it was just me missing home and me wanting to see what it looked like and how people communicated and how they showed up for each other, and how they survived. And that's how I started doing it because I was selling food with my mom. It was during the pandemic, I had transitioned out of my job so we started selling and vending food. I knew that I wanted to approach it in a different way that felt honest to me and where I come from.
So I started exploring that aspect. At the time, I wasn't in a studio or making art, and at the time, I didn't feel like I was really an artist, but looking back and having more knowledge and understanding of my journey, that was definitely huge for how I approach my work and how I make things, and how I think through things. So it always just goes back to home.
A: Those are one of my favorite things to look at on your feed, because it's like, there's like Mexican iconography, there's meme references, but it's not even meme references. It's like even the way that you would lower your voice. I think those are fun. Like, there was humor, but at the same time it was culture. And it's hard to have that on social media, but you would implement that, and there was a bond. I thought that was beautiful. Another thing you mentioned from your LVL3 interview, when they had asked you what has been inspiring you lately? And your response was bootleg, could you elaborate on that a bit?
Y: Because of where I grew up, I always saw bootleg stuff, even just bootleg name brand things. I remember having bootleg Ed Hardy shirts that we got at Ranch Market. And not thinking anything badly of it, that was just what we had. And just knowing that, even if we didn't have all the money in the world, or all of the resources, we also deserved to experience luxury in some way and feel like we had proximity to these things that were more expensive, that were out of our financial range. I think it's always just us wanting to also have nice things, and it's like, if we can't get the real thing, we're gonna make it. And I think that's a lot of what my work is.
A: I just want you to briefly reflect on your most recent show in New Mexico. Would love to know how that opportunity came about, but also would love to give you the opportunity to talk about the pieces that you showed. I know that you announced on your Instagram “IN MY WHITE TEE” was there, but I was interested to know what was shown, if that was from an existing body of work, or if you produced new things for that show.
Y: All of the works from “Down for Mines”, the whole body of work.
I am constantly embraced by angels and just very protected in all aspects.
It was at Gerald Peters, but they had guest curators, Ninabah Winton and Erin Joyce, Ninabah reached out to me. My angel. All of the works from DFM went to that show, which felt like a really good opportunity for the pieces to experience new landscapes and to have new people meet them. My sculptures are for sure people to me. They hold spirit and they have deep intentions. And it's always really special to know that people get to witness them in other places, and relate to them, or identify things that I've put into them. That's how it happened.
The works were up for less than a month. It was really special. All my girls went, it was my first time in New Mexico, first time for many of us in New Mexico. It was a family outing. My parents can't come with me to a lot of my opportunities because of their status. I felt very cared for, just very honored that these are my sisters, and that they wanted to come and be there for me. And just to go through that journey and that trek together, it's like a 10 hour drive. But it was really special. We stayed a little up past Santa Fe, in a small town.
A: I just thought that was a beautiful opportunity that came up specifically because you preserved it being in the southwest too. And so I feel like you're an artist that definitely considers location when presenting work. So I thought that that was a fitting environment for sure.
Y: Yeah, it was my second time showing outside of Phoenix. I had shown in LA, but this felt very intentional and the curators were outstanding, and all the works in the gallery were beautiful. There was such a necessary conversation, between all the works that I think wouldn't have happened otherwise. The space was gorgeous. It's one of the most beautiful places that my work has ever been. And then I was able to really speak on why I do what I do, even within a five minute conversation. But it was one of the most amazing opportunities I've had, and I feel like I'm still receiving gifts from that. And there's just a lot underway, because of that show. When I tell you that I feel like I'm living my dreams, I really am, and it feels very surreal. I just think about telling my little self you're doing that. You’re doing it.
A: You should be proud of yourself. It's not a small feat, definitely. I’m glad that you're able to still reap a lot of gifts and community from all your efforts and be led by your passion for art through that. So I guess just to wrap this up, if you want to share anything that you're like, currently working on or working towards.
Y: I mentioned a few times how I'm pivoting. Still making ceramic work, and I still will do that forever, and I want to, and I feel like I have a lot of questions too that I want to answer and to deepen. So it's always gonna be part of my practice. But that big sculpture is the direction that I'm going in. Again, going back to the bootleg, I always think about swap meets and sites for gathering and exchange. And so this is something that I've been thinking through, what feels like my whole life. And now I feel in my power and ready to work through it. It's been a very beautiful but also very difficult year. And so I think, going back again to that question of the administration and my work, and do I feel as though my work is challenging what is going on? I think this will tend to that a little more, and I think it's a little bit more head on. It's always going to be focused on joy and resilience and the beautiful ways that we hold each other and protect each other, because that's what's guided me and what's allowed me to continue in life for so long and with my practice. But it's not as easy to digest as a sculpture. It's really hard for me to go back to this type of work because I was doing it for a while. But it's also hard for me to live the life that I do, and be confronted with all of these policy changes, and hearing what's going on with ICE and the raids and really, everything going on in the world is hard. And then to also think about that in my practice, and to feel like I'm not escaping it. That's why I pivoted to my ceramic work, and started making these vessels that are a little bit more silly and playful, because I wanted to have fun when I was making things, and I didn't want to feel a huge burden or a huge weight to address what is going on. But I feel that because of who I am, I don't have any other choice.
It's not like I was rejecting that. I think my work still deals with those things, but I think my ceramic work is just easier to navigate for folks because, you can look at it and you wouldn't necessarily know what community it's invested in, and that's something that could easily be worked around. It's not something that will be in your face. But if you see blue tarps, you start thinking about what these things mean, like why is that? And so I think it confronts people with these questions and their place within all of this, a little quicker than something like my ceramic sculpture.
A: Like you said, you kind of just inadvertently address these things in your work, because it is just like you can't change who you are and your background, and so your work will always, in a sense, have a responsibility to reflect your community. And I feel like intrinsically that matters to you, so it'll just always come out. But I appreciate the silliness and the joy that your work brings as well, because I feel like that is also needed during times like this. Like people look to art to have a form of escapism or to see themselves in a different way than the world sees. Joy is absolutely a part of that reflection. So I think that your work is exceptional and it doesn't only just resonate with people that are in your community as well. It extends beyond that. So I think that your work is doing a great job of bridging that gap and inviting people into your world. It makes me more curious about Maryvale. It makes me more curious about that community being from Arizona too. It makes me super curious about it.
Y: It's a special place. It doesn't need protection by any means. When everything was kind of surfacing again because of the raids, in LA and Chicago and these other big cities, I wouldn’t say a lot of us didn’t have as much fear here, because we were scared, but we had gone through that years ago. And we got through it. And it wasn't easy by any means, but we know that we can. While I will always wish to know more and to experience where I'm from a lot more, I also don't feel like it's not here. Because all of what exists back home in Mexico was brought here.
I'm just really grateful for everything and to be able to do the things that I do and just continue to deepen. I always just think about that, being able to continue to deepen and ask my questions, and want more for us all.