Eduardo Escamilla 
Mykel Del Angel/THE RIDER
Artist Beatriz Guzman Velasquez does not just make art; she embodies a regenerative process, using transformation as a verb to actively rewrite negative local narratives about the Rio Grande Valley. The result is a profound inner and outer change, thoughtfully captured in her current exhibition.
Rewriting the Land, Rewriting the Soul, is on display and concludes with a closing reception at 6 p.m. Friday at the Charles and Dorothy Clark Art Gallery on the Edinburg campus.
The exhibition presents a body of work created primarily using natural pigments the artist grew and harvested herselfāa powerful, lengthly process she calls a symbolic act of change.
For Guzman Velasquez, who is originally from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and now lives and works in the Valley, the show challenges long-held, often negative narratives about the regionās climate and its people.
Regarding the name of the exhibition Guzman Velasquez said, āI felt that it comes from stories that were told about the Valley, or stories that we carried around about the Valley, like, we canāt really grow anything here, or the climate is really harsh.ā
She explained she felt her community, specifically Mexican American residents, were excluded from a positive narrative about the land.
āIt just felt like we werenāt part of a story where something was good, right?ā Guzman Velasquez said. āI think that thatās what the work initiates, like this action or the symbolic meaning of change that I want to bring about.ā
She developed the work following a prestigious Ragdale Residency and a Beginner Farmer Fellow program through UTRGV.
The fellowship allowed her to cultivate plants and transform their roots, leaves and wood into the materials she uses for her multimedia installations.
The connection to the raw material is vital to her practice, according to the artist.
āIām extending the amount of time in order to produce the actual material that Iām working with,ā she said. āItās taking, like, a year, the whole entire year, to actually produce paint.ā
Guzman Velasquez said the extended relationship with the process affects her deeply.
āIām just embodying all these materials that Iām growing, Iām learning from them, and itās just changing the way that I look at life,ā she said.
Guzman Velasquez specifically mentioned her connection to root vegetablesācarrots, beets and radishesāfor their ability to connect her to the earth.
She favors mesquite wood, stating she has a āstrong connection with mesquite charcoal, the smell ā¦ and the texture of it.ā
In addition to physical materials, the themes of ancestral and intergenerational healing run through the exhibition.
Guzman Velasquez drew inspiration from her grandmother, honoring her by naming her studio Juana Simona.
āI just realized that women, no woman in my family, had owned a piece of land and had created a space specifically for creativity,ā she said.
By creating that space, Guzman Velasquez said she feels she is actively rewriting her familyās history.
She is acutely aware of the relationship between her art and its specific audience.
Guzman Velasquez cited filmmaker Guillermo del Toro as an influence, stating she was āliberatedā by the idea that not all art must cater to the masses.
āAll of my career up to now, has been about selecting spaces that will understand what is important to me, rather than me catering to ā¦ the outside world per se,ā she said.
Guzman Velasquez wants her work to offer viewers a feeling of empowerment and possibility.
āI think, like the word for me, is just providing them with possibilities of how to change ā¦ stories that they carry around with themselves,ā she said. āThat they have the authorship to actually write their own story and change their surroundings as well.ā
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