Solange Aguilar - Artist, Poet, and Photographer

Solange Aguilar is a Artist, Poet, and Photographer based in Syuxtun, Chumash Territory. They are Apache, Yoeme, Kalinga, Kapampangan. Creating with mediums including poetry, watercolor, collage, photography, Solange describes their work, “My visual work mostly focuses on different aspects of Indigeneity, ranging from language revitalization to different expressions of joy and beauty to land defense work. My written work focuses more on intimacy and vulnerability.” Solange created an Indigenous Postcard series, reminiscent of the vintage postcard look, as a way to educate about the land and what the land is really called, and emphasize the beauty of Indigenous land before colonization. They also have a Decolonial Dreams series, digital collage work, and painted a piano for Pianos on State through the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. Art is Solange’s voice and they believe in reindigenizing, “relearning traditional ways of being, implementing cultural practices and traditions in daily life, building community and structures outside of the colonial structures as a way to make them irrelevant.” Currently Solange is creating in the Santa Barbara region. They are also working on a collaboration with Chumash linguist, Maura Sullivan (@brujascholar) on a Šmuwič (Chumash) coloring book.

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How did you create your career path? What drew you to creating art?
I've been an artist my entire life. When I was growing up, I was so in love with the children’s books I had because of the art in it and how every book had a different art style. Just like us. I think the most beautiful thing about us is how everyone has their own individual story and their own unique way of telling it. Art is a vehicle, a voice, a vessel for your spirit, your heart, the life you've lived, the things you think about. It's so intimate and powerful all at once.

What subjects does your work focus on?
My visual work mostly focuses on different aspects of Indigeneity, ranging from language revitalization to different expressions of joy and beauty to land defense work. My written work focuses more on intimacy and vulnerability.

How important is decolonization and recognizing Indigenous land to you?
Decolonization - i.e. breaking down colonial structures and ways of being - isn't as important to me as reindigenizing - i.e. relearning traditional ways of being, implementing cultural practices and traditions in daily life, building community and structures outside of the colonial structures as a way to make them irrelevant. There is a generational trauma that all BIPOC carry that manifests itself into things like anger, which is still a very important emotion, but at this point in my life, I want our peoples to grow and thrive and have spaces to ourselves again. More than recognizing Indigenous land, I want the land back. I want our land back. I want our peoples to exist and be free in the places we've tended for millenia on end. I want what feels like an impossible dream to become reality.

Your Indigenous Postcard series is some of your well known work, what inspired you to start it?
I got inspired to start it after hearing non-Indigenous people say things like, "I'm a native to this area" or "I'm a (city/state name) native" without even knowing whose land they're on or what the traditional language is or what the land itself is really called. I was frustrated and I decided to turn that frustration into this series to help educate as well as give an emphasis to the fact that we, as Indigenous peoples, don't always have the luxury of nostalgia in the same way that non-Indigenous peoples do when they see a vintage postcard. The earliest photos that we have of the land are usually during or after the landscape has changed from colonization, so this series brings us back and helps remind us of the beauty of the land in a good way rather than from a place of deep, ancestral hurt.

What are some of the mediums you work with (watercolor, digital, poetry)?
I work with anything I can get my hands on. I love watercolor, poetry, collage, embroidery, photography, etc. I love it all.

How do you use your platform to speak about current social justice issues?
There's a quote I really like by Tony Cade Bambara that goes, "It is the role of the artist to make the revolution irresistible." Everyone has the choice to speak out about what's important to them and, for me, art is my voice, my spirit, my place to process everything that's going on in the world. If there's something I want to talk about, but don't necessarily have all the right words for it, I'll make art about it. Whether it's in the form of informational slides, a graphic, or a poem, I'll find a way to creatively speak out and bring attention to it.

Who/what has been instrumental in your personal and creative growth?
My different communities and cultures have definitely been the biggest influence to my personal and creative growth. My friends and family are endlessly inspiring and so incredibly beautiful in their own unique ways. I come from a family of artists, so I grew up being pushed to excel in my passions. A piece of advice I learned from my step-mom - who is an incredible French actress, author, director extraordinaire - in particular, was when she was asked what she thought about being an older woman in an industry that doesn't favor giving roles to older women and she said, "When I first started out, there weren't any roles for people who looked like me, so I wrote my own. If you don't see any representation for yourself, create your own."

Where can we see your art in person?
For now, you can catch me and my work at different pop-ups around the Santa Barbara region.

Do you have any upcoming work, projects that you'd like to share?
Right now, I'm working on completing a Šmuwič (Chumash) coloring book in collaboration with Chumash linguist, Maura Sullivan (@brujascholar)

Images courtesy of Solange Aguilar