Artist Statement
My artistic practice heavily centers around my experience as a queer person of color. I strive to create work that both makes others in my community feel properly represented but also makes them feel like they have a place on earth. I want my art to make those who view or interact with it know that they are alive for a reason and that their existence is neither a mistake or a burden to the work, that they are needed and worth something. My mission as an artist is to spread this idea as much as I possibly can.
Something that fascinates me is when an artist is able to convey an entire narrative in one illustration. Through strategically placing certain objects, details, and figures, one can express so much. By employing this form of visual storytelling, I am able to bring both members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color to the forefront of society’s mind, never to be forgotten again. I refuse to let the people in my community be erased from history any longer.
Resident Bio
Michelle Foto is a freelance illustrator who was born in Mandeville, Louisiana. By the spring of 2023, Michelle will have graduated from Southeastern University with a BA having concentrated on New Media & Animation. Coming from a mixed household, Michelle was born to a Filipino immigrant and an Italian from New Orleans. Between being of mixed race and realizing their sexuality early on Michelle felt ostracized by their peers. They credit their ascension into artistry to the loneliness they felt back then. Michelle is someone who considers themself to be an artist before anything else.
Much of Michelle's life revolves around the act of creating or consuming other creatives’ work; they find that the media they enjoy most is that which centers around humanity with love at its core. Michelle is incredibly entranced by the human experience as it is both something they can never hope to comprehend and yet something they know very well as a human being.
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