Interview & words: Elisa Routa

Having grown up in Miami, Reyna Noriega has lived in Florida her whole life. In March 2020, she should have moved to Europe, she had her flight to Paris on the 16th. That was supposed to be her first time in Europe, an overseas opportunity to live outside of the US, but due to the pandemic, the project had to be postponed. Despite the global crisis and social climate, the 27-year-old artist took advantage of self-isolation to accentuate her colorful, joyful, and self-confident vision of womanhood because, as she says, “through my art, I rather want to cultivate happiness.”

“I want my art to provide joy to people that didn’t see enough representation of women that looked like them.”

This weird time of crisis didn’t shift Reyna’s perception of art but instead reinforced her intentions to focus on spreading a positive visual representation of women of color. “We don’t see a lot of women of color in the spaces that I love – museum and artistic places. A lot of times they are dominated by males, and people that don’t look like me. I want my art to provide joy to people that didn’t see enough representation of women that looked like them.” More than ever, the civil rights movement as a response to police violence reminded the American artist why she draws the way that she draws. “It’s been very triggering, especially as a black woman, like the piece that I did entitled My art looks like this because my reality looks like this. On social media, people feel that to spread awareness, they have to share images and videos of people that have been killed, whether it’s by police or whatever. When you live that reality, it traumatizes and it re-traumatizes you. When you live every day knowing that there is a chance that this is something that can happen to your black brother or your black father, it takes a toll on your mental health so, through my art, I rather want to cultivate happiness. »

“Art was the start in making me realize that I have the power to make my life feel positive and feel good to me all the time.”

Through dreamy aesthetics and an emphasis on warm colors, the Miami-based artist has always been trying to transcribe a sense of self-love, confidence, and understanding. “I had a joyful and positive childhood. Looking around me a lot of my peers didn’t experience that. People have lived different experiences that have made it hard for them to just be blissful, and focused on joy. I’ve always wanted my art to provide joy to people that might be struggling with getting to a place of self-love or struggling with identity in the world.” Identity is a central element in Reyna’s process of creation. Her father is Cuban, her mother is from the Bahamas, and she grew up in Miami. Not only has her identity as a woman played a role in her inspirations as an artist, but her cultural background has shaped her art. “My dad was also an artist so that was my first interaction with art. As a kid, I would see him drawing things in his sketchbook and, of course, I didn’t understand the process, but I thought that was so cool and that was magic. I struggled because I wanted to be good, I wanted to create more than I wanted to enjoy it. It kinda took the fun out of it. Now, the way I practice art is more to express myself.”

“I’d like to tell women that they’re enough. All of the beauty, the power, and greatness that they strive for is already inside of them.”

Today, colors are definitely part of Reyna’s identity. “And you see it now in the way that I dress and in the things that I like (laughs). Before, I was less confident so I’d draw less attention to myself and I’d wear a lot of black and a lot of neutral colors. As I really started to take off those layers and get to what makes me happy and what makes me feel good, it’s been colorful.” Her portraits of women are as colorful as Miami, a place she describes to be very diverse and, “with that, comes a lot of color and celebration of culture.” Art, like her native Miami, has been doing its bit in her healing process. “Art was the start in making me realize that I have the power to make my life feel positive and feel good to me all the time. When I would get stuck on art, that was the time to switch it and focus more on me, and figure out what I needed to pay attention to.” Today, Reyna Noriega tends to make women feel they are represented and empowered. Here is her message : “First, I’d like to tell women that they’re enough. All of the beauty, the power, and greatness that they strike for is already inside of them. They should make sure they occupy spaces that amplify it and magnify it. All of the friendships, all of the relationships, all of the working environments should always make you feel better and more powerful than you do without them. Otherwise, they’re holding you back.”

“By opening up and letting myself be loved, I became more positive.”

Since the beginning of her career, womanhood has been an essential component in Reyna’s work. Her realistic colored artworks contain small scenes of everyday life and end up being a frank portrayal of women in private and public spaces, depicting them in their bedroom or on the beach. Bouncing between real life and a world the artist has imagined – inspired by her travels and daydreams – Reyna Noriega’s characters look both self-confident, sensual, powerful, and free. “When I was younger, there were a lot of mindsets around me that women were jealous, and women were insecure with each other.” Going beyond assumptions, the artist found peace of mind. Indeed, combining the warmth of orange, the heat of red, with the quietness of green, the colors convey a feeling of self-confidence. “By opening up and letting myself be loved, I became more positive and started to think that if I have a friendship, it’s gonna be positive, it’s gonna push me to be better, and they’re gonna be supportive.”

“Art helps to document what is going on, it helps to spread messages and to educate people on what is going on. Art is much more accessible when it has the power to just affect people’s feelings pretty much immediately. Art is a very powerful tool.”

Again, according to Reyna, positivity and having an optimistic outlook are key to have the energy and believe that we can create change. That’s how she considers the power of art as well as the artist’s role in society. “I’ve always felt that it’s important to balance the aspect of being aware, and not being completely oblivious and living in a bubble – like all the world is perfect and nothing’s going on. Otherwise, you stop dreaming, you have no hope, and you have no fight left.” Is there a role to play for the artist in the movement for racial justice and equality? I then asked. “I think there is a huge responsibility,” she replied. “Art helps to document what is going on, it helps to spread messages and to educate people on what is going on. Sometimes, when it comes to reading material, not everyone can understand the words and the things that have been used in this article. It’s not always accessible. Art is much more accessible when it has the power to just affect people’s feelings pretty much immediately. You look at something and based on the colors, or the context or the subject, you feel something. Art is a very powerful tool, and the more we document what’s happening, the more we educate and spread messages during this time, the more we’ll be able to look back on for years to come.”

In college, Reyna Noriega was supposed to study Visual Art but, scared that there would not be any career or money in it, she ended up studying Psychology. Today, she somehow sees a relationship between psychology and the development of her illustrations. “The things I did learn taught me to really pay attention to the way that we feel and how the information that we’re taking can affect our mental health,” she explains. “Before psychology, I thought people were just sad or people were just depressed, but you see how the mind can trap itself when there is no release or when there is no form of therapy, whether it be with a professional or with the things that you love.”

Last year, merging writing with her illustrations, Reyna Noriega published a collection of poems entitled In Bloom. “Poems are so simple, it’s easy to insert your own experience. The poems can apply to any type of friendship or relationship and life experience. It helps people to be able to relate through that process.” In quarantine, Reyna just finished another poetry book that she expects to launch in September and October. Until then, she will keep on cultivating happiness to our greatest delight.