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A Frog Cries - M. Aragon
A Frog Cries
By M. Aragon
Woodfired Ceramics
4” x 4” x 3.5”
2024
Artist Statement: My journey in art-making started in the written word then extended into collages and printmaking. I am interested in translating literature into physical forms beyond the standard bound book and written word on paper. My goal is to investigate traditional English and Latin American literature and explore new abstract forms of storytelling. My recent work has been inspired by Pre-Columbian Nicaraguan ceramic sculpture and the practice of maintaining indigenous storytelling. As a Nicaraguan American living in one of the most densely populated cities of migrated Central Americans, my hope is to immortalize at least some of our stories in the same vein. In creating this newer work, I am using natural figures, Aztec- Mayan mythology, and queer abstraction to reinvent Central American narratives that have been commercialized/colonized. The impact of this work is to connect traditional art with modern narratives. It also serves as a way to connect with my own cultural practices and stories as a queer Central American, often on the sidelines as a result of modern Christian, heteronormative culture in Central America.
Artist Bio: M. Aragon is an arts administrator, writer, and dirt eater based in Silver Spring, MD. Their personal art practice uses mixed media such as printmaking, ceramics, and performance to explore the relationships between their body, neighboring natural bodies, and the built environment around them. They are a biophilic creature who desires to connect with their community members, the earth, and themselves through art that encourages embodied care-taking and socially engaged work. (@recycled_clay)
“"Frogtopia" is a series of ceramic figurative sculptures. This series came out of a desire to create comical figures that brought viewers a sense of joy once found. Aragon has a long relationship with frogs on a spiritual level, stemming from their lonely experience growing up in a suburban, colder neighborhood, away from the tropical homeland their family comes from. They would spend hours wandering the neighborhood at night looking down on the ground for peepers or the occasional toad that would show up randomly on sidewalks and in their backyard. This game of seeking frogs also speaks to the artists' journey of seeking their own sense of identity and community. Frogs became symbolic to the artists' utopian ideals of transformation and the nature of gender transness. A frog fully transforms from a water animal with no legs, to an amphibian creature that can traverse both land and water. While gender is socially constructed, coming to a sense of gender transition felt like transforming into a new creature --- one that moves in the world differently. The artist hopes that viewers looking low to the ground and discovering the ceramic frogs are also reminded of the ever changing nature within themselves.”
-M. Aragon, Takoma Park, Maryland.
A Frog Cries
By M. Aragon
Woodfired Ceramics
4” x 4” x 3.5”
2024
Artist Statement: My journey in art-making started in the written word then extended into collages and printmaking. I am interested in translating literature into physical forms beyond the standard bound book and written word on paper. My goal is to investigate traditional English and Latin American literature and explore new abstract forms of storytelling. My recent work has been inspired by Pre-Columbian Nicaraguan ceramic sculpture and the practice of maintaining indigenous storytelling. As a Nicaraguan American living in one of the most densely populated cities of migrated Central Americans, my hope is to immortalize at least some of our stories in the same vein. In creating this newer work, I am using natural figures, Aztec- Mayan mythology, and queer abstraction to reinvent Central American narratives that have been commercialized/colonized. The impact of this work is to connect traditional art with modern narratives. It also serves as a way to connect with my own cultural practices and stories as a queer Central American, often on the sidelines as a result of modern Christian, heteronormative culture in Central America.
Artist Bio: M. Aragon is an arts administrator, writer, and dirt eater based in Silver Spring, MD. Their personal art practice uses mixed media such as printmaking, ceramics, and performance to explore the relationships between their body, neighboring natural bodies, and the built environment around them. They are a biophilic creature who desires to connect with their community members, the earth, and themselves through art that encourages embodied care-taking and socially engaged work. (@recycled_clay)
“"Frogtopia" is a series of ceramic figurative sculptures. This series came out of a desire to create comical figures that brought viewers a sense of joy once found. Aragon has a long relationship with frogs on a spiritual level, stemming from their lonely experience growing up in a suburban, colder neighborhood, away from the tropical homeland their family comes from. They would spend hours wandering the neighborhood at night looking down on the ground for peepers or the occasional toad that would show up randomly on sidewalks and in their backyard. This game of seeking frogs also speaks to the artists' journey of seeking their own sense of identity and community. Frogs became symbolic to the artists' utopian ideals of transformation and the nature of gender transness. A frog fully transforms from a water animal with no legs, to an amphibian creature that can traverse both land and water. While gender is socially constructed, coming to a sense of gender transition felt like transforming into a new creature --- one that moves in the world differently. The artist hopes that viewers looking low to the ground and discovering the ceramic frogs are also reminded of the ever changing nature within themselves.”
-M. Aragon, Takoma Park, Maryland.