In her Oak Cliff home studio, surrounded by found objects, cornhusks, various fabrics, and family photographs, artist Tina Medina is doing more than making art鈥攕he鈥檚 preserving cultural memory.
Through her interdisciplinary work that blends collage, painting, video, installation, and performance, Medina weaves together narratives of identity, displacement, and labor. 鈥淚 explore whatever medium I can to get my idea across,鈥� she said.
Medina's pieces often center the voices and labor of Latino agricultural workers by repurposing archival photographs and texts into multi-layered collages. A reoccurring motif in her work is the presence of American and Mexican flags, often sewn together to express the interconnectedness of the two cultures.
鈥淭hese people are the people that make up our country, that make the country what it is. And we should never forget those people.鈥�
The dignity of faces
Many of the photographs Medina uses come directly from her own family archives鈥攕napshots of relatives working in the fields, gathered at home, or caught in moments of everyday resilience.
鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 just anonymous images鈥攖hey鈥檙e pieces of my history,鈥� she said. The act of reassembling them becomes both an act of reverence and reclamation.
鈥淚 want people to see the dignity in those faces,鈥� she added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my grandmother, that鈥檚 my uncle鈥攖hat鈥檚 where I come from.
A central aspect of Medina鈥檚 process is the act of collecting: 鈥淚鈥檓 always collecting - whether it鈥檚 stories or things or images or memories鈥� they all get embedded into the work.鈥�
As a professor at Dallas College, Medina also sees her role as an educator as part of her broader practice.
鈥淚鈥檓 trying to show my students that someone like them can exist in the art world,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 also know that being in the classroom feeds my practice. I learn just as much from my students as they do from me.鈥�
Honoring ancestors
Born and raised in Lubbock, Medina鈥檚 early years were marked by a sense of isolation.
鈥淚 felt like I was the only artist anywhere,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know that you could be an artist as a job.鈥�
Now firmly rooted in Oak Cliff Medina has found the community she once lacked.
鈥淥ak Cliff feels like home. It鈥檚 bilingual, it鈥檚 layered,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a rhythm to it that feels like it鈥檚 holding me.鈥�
In honoring those who came before her through her art Medina transforms material into memory.
鈥淚鈥檓 here because my ancestors survived. I don鈥檛 know their names, but I carry their spirit,鈥� she said. 鈥淓very stitch, every layer, is for them鈥攁nd for the people coming after us.鈥�
Tina Medina鈥檚 work will be featured in "Arte de Tejas: A Nascent Collection of Mexican American Artists" at Kirk Hopper Fine Art, July 26鈥揂ugust 23.
