Portfolio

My Portfolio is an offering of cyclical time [non-linear] shared as a story-map with no borders where lines make connections [not separations] and all forms of artistic expression interact with one other [non-categorical]. Renderings of all sorts; photography, paintings, performance, writing, installation art, sculpture, textile all find their home here on this page interfacing my inner and outer worlds.

thank you for visiting and spending time here, Laila Lupita

“Found You in Facebook”, Screenshot of my mother for mixed media digital altar, currently in progress.

El tiempo no es linear

El fantasma siempre llama a la memoria y juntas abren portales sin obedecer las leyes escritas por los hombres

Caminando mano en mano, lanzan sus ojos con hilos hacia el otro lado Se visten de espejos que encontraron en la cueva subterranea donde se conocieron

Reflejando Luz a cada esquina donde el movimiento se detiene

Y asi es como el fantasma y la memoria hacen que todo lo que es pequeño y tierno viva y crezca, suavizando angulos limitantes y redondeando el tiempo [OTRA VEZ].

“Portals”, Mixed media Installation altar, performance and experimental photography, part of “Mirror” Series.
“Mother at SunRise”, Mixed media altar installation, performance and experimental photography, part of “Mirror” Series.
“Ofrendas”, Performance, Albany Bulb, CA. 2019..
“Ofrendas”, Performance, Albany Bulb, CA. 2019..

“La Casa Verde” Acrylic on canvas, Laila Espinoza, 2020

“Huipil Fronterizo”, Performance and hand-made Huipil, U.S/Mexico Border at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuhua, Mexico, 2017.
“Huipil Fronterizo”, Performance in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico at the U.S/Mexico National Border, 2016.
“Huipil Fronterizo”, Performance in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico at the U.S/Mexico National Border, 2016.

Mother and Child, acrylic on canvas, 2008-09

“Mother and Child” Acrylic on canvas/digital text, Laila Espinoza, 2020

“The Call”, Acrylic, oil pastel, soil and mirror on wood. 2013
“The Circuit”, Performance and Photography, CCA, Oakland. 2014
“Mother at SunDown”, Mixed media altar installation, performance and experimental photography, part of “Mirror” Series.
“Tree Bark Mirror”, Acrylic paint, oil pastel, marker, tree bark, cut mirror on wood. 2013
“Ni Una Mas!”, part of the Body Altar-Huipil Fronterizo Project and Performance. Ciudad Juarez (U.S/Mexico National Border). 2016
“The Ancestor Realm”, Acrylic on canvas. 2020
“Feather Foot”, Photography. U.S/Mexico Border. In #JUNTAS SEAMOS VISIBLES, 2020

“#JUNTAS SEAMOS VISIBLES” Diarias Global, a project by Lorena Wolffer

https://www.diariasglobal.com/diarias/139

“Birds are Falling from the Sky”, U.S/Mexico Border. 2020
“Altar for Bird”. U.S/Mexico Border. 2020
“Mujer Pájaro”, Oil Painting, 2001.
“Lifting the Veil”, Mixed Media Quilt, 2000.
“She Flew Away”, Mixed Media Quilt, 2001.

My gramma gave me a pair of scissors and pointed to the black plastic garbage bags full of the “throw-aways” that the rich lady whose house she cleaned would give her. I angrily refused. Then, my auntie took her own life and I couldn’t stop cutting. The plastic bags empty-the give-away curtains, the give-away table covers, the give-away oversized dresses and blouses all cut up into little pieces of tactile color scattered all over the floor in the living room. Later I found the thread and the needle, realized I could put it all [back] together, but differently…the way I want(ed) it. My story.

“El Jardin del Corazon” mixed media tapestry (fabric, beads, thread and paint) Laila Espinoza, 2002

“Virago”, Acrylic and yarn on canvas. Painting and Installation. 2016
“Through the Wound”, Installation. 2016

“Through the Wound” a close up, 2016

“Coyoltxauqui” Textile made with a digital loom. 2017
“Huipil Fronterizo”, Back side. Hand-made, hand-painted and embroidered garment. Presented at SOMARTS, SF. 2016

“Huipil Fronterizo” front view, Laila Espinoza

“Speak”, Acrylic paint, thread and cushion pins on canvas. 2009
“La Sirena Speaks” acrylic and oil pastels on canvas. Part of Nomadic Art Project. Lake Meritt, Oakland CA. 2016
NOMADIC ART PROJECT (Athol Courts Open Studio Project), Oakland, CA. 2016.

Crosscurrents KALW Public Media 91.7 FM, Bay Area

Sights and Sounds of East Oakland: An Artist Takes Back the Streets

https://www.kalw.org/show/crosscurrents/2017-04-25/sights-sounds-of-east-oakland-an-artist-takes-back-the-streets

“Guidance” Mixed media painting (acrylic, seeds, and cotton) on canvas, Laila Espinoza, 2009-2010

“Altar para los estudiantes de Ayotzinapa”, Installation and Teach-in Space, California College of the Arts
Altar Installation and Performance at SOMARTS, San Francisco, CA. 2016
“Be An Active Witness”, Installation and Performance. California College of the Arts, 2018.
“Be An Active Witness” Installation at the California College of the Arts Gallery, 2018.
“Huipil Fronterizo”, Performance at U.S/Mexico National Border at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico , 2017.
“Ofrendas”, Performance at the Albany Bulb, CA. 2019.

“Ofrendas” Performance at the Albany Bulb, CA. in collaboration with JT and Vincente Perez, 2018

“Ofrendas”, Performance at the Albany Bulb, CA. 2019.
Performance for “La Casa Verde”, Master’s Thesis, 2020.

Laila Guadalupe Espinoza is a visual and performance artist and scholar. Her work spans across the art practices of garment design, painting, photography, installation of altars and performance of contemporary ceremony and ritual as well as writing. She grew up in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México and the U.S/Border during the beginning phases of the maquiladora industry expansion and the feminicidio. Through her work, Laila seeks to talk about/write about/make art about, study and teach about the every day life experience of the U.S/Mexico Border and the intimately cultural, historical and political relationship between Indigenous America and Black people, Mestizaje, gendered violence, labor, contemporary colonialism, the body and the land.