ARTIST STATEMENT
Inspired by everything around me, my paintings and prints reflect my emotions, my experiences, my beliefs, and the way that I interpret them. The theme in most of my work deal with issues that we as people experience, the way we question ourselves, and not just the burdens we carry but the things that make us happy. In this print I am showing my love for cooking and how we gather around food and how it brings us together. I love making the masa for Pastelles with my mother. The most labor intensive part of making pastelles is not just the wrapping but peeling the cases of bananas and making the masa (the batter), this print shows me peeling bananas and my mom running the banana grater. During the holidays my mother makes pastelles, a Puerto Rican delicacy made from ground green bananas formed into a patty with meat, wrapped in banana leaves and boiled. They can be traced back to our indigenous ancestors the Tainos, which were native to the Island before colonization. I use different mediums to recreate my pictures, such as acrylic on canvas and while I still love other mediums, I have fallen in love with the Linocut printmaking process. Expressing myself through my art helps me deal with my disability by pouring my pain into my work, taking my mind off of my illnesses and the chaos they create in my life. I love creating linocut prints and how distinctively raw each print comes out.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mildred Annani Mercado started painting with an old box of oil pastels that her father was going to throw out when she was 14 years old; she asked if she could have them and couldn’t stop. She is Puerto Rican and was born and raised on the south side of Chicago where she lives with her family. Annani is a mixed media Artist, Beekeeper, spoken word Poet, and was a Chef for 26 years. After 12 years of misdiagnoses, she was properly diagnosed in 2018 with Fibromyalgia and Crohn’s Disease. She took a step away from her art for a little more than 10 years. She decided to go back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. During this time, she also began backyard beekeeping and creating art, realizing that like food for the body, she needed art to feed her soul!
Expressing herself through her art help Annani deal with her disability, taking her mind off of the illnesses and the chaos they have created in her life. She believes in showing her children that there are healthier ways to deal with mental health issues. Inspired by everything around her, her art reflects her experiences, emotions, and beliefs and how she interprets them. The themes in her artwork deal with life, our burdens and how we carry them. She works with acrylics, gouache, oil pastels and has recently fallen in love with the Linocut printmaking process and how distinctively raw each individual print comes out.
© Mildred Annani Mercado