Liz Gomez
Liz Gomez is an Afro-Mexican multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work utilizes portraiture and abstraction as a pathway to storytelling and liberation. Gomez believes that only by facing our collective and inner truths can wholeness and peace exist and creates work that celebrates authenticity, vulnerability, and healing. Gomez uses paint, reclaimed materials, and intuition to create works that act as bridges to conversations about mental health, belonging, self-love, and identity. Gomez´s portraits seek to broaden the range of representation of Black, Indigenous, and POC beings in a manner that crumbles the dangerous portrayals present in society and reshape reality by creating images that honor, love, and celebrate BIPOC beings.
Gomez’s mediums are endless and take shape around the most sustainable materials in the environment. From canvas to curtain and painting to performance creations aim to be in relation to the present.
In 2018, Gomez decided to combine their passion for portraiture activism to create The Divine Gratitude Portrait Movement, a traveling portrait series designed to give thanks and bring visibility to individuals whose stories show the healing powers of holding space for others. Individuals nominated for this project disrupt the cycles of fear and division in their communities and pave the way for a joyous and equitable future. By combining “present portraiture”, film, and mindfulness I intend to show the positive impacts gratitude and service can have in every community.
Liz Gomez, was born in San Antonio, TX and began drawing portraits professionally at age seventeen in theme parks around the U.S, before relocating to Chicago to attain a B.F.A from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2018, Gómez decided to combine their passion for portraiture and activism to create The Divine Gratitude Portrait Movement, a painting and film series designed to give thanks to individuals positively impacting the community. Each story shares each person’s unique path while bringing visibility to their mission. Gómez´s portraits of active community members seek to broaden and uplift the range of representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in a manner that crumbles the dangerous portrayals present today and throughout global history.
Liz Gómez has completed residencies with The Honeycomb Network, and The Chicago Artist Coalition, Field/Work Residency program, and The Hunter Radcliffe Artist Residency Program. Currently, Liz Gómez is completing a year’s residency in The Basque Country as a traveling artist and educator hosted by the Department of Audiovisual Communication of the University of the Basque Country, Spain. Gómez intends to research representation within the Basque territory, given the artist’s work centering the historical representation of lesser-seen or misrepresented cultures such as Black or Indigenous people.
Liz Gomez 