“I turned adversity into opportunity.”
Can you tell us a little about your background, early influences, and how you gravitated towards art?
I always liked to draw, since I was a child, but it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I found my way of expression through graffiti. XENA was my nom de guerre, my alter ego, the one I have used for years to write on walls.
I was always seduced by underground culture — painting in the street without anyone’s permission or approval. It created a sense of belonging without precedent. The need to create warrior women of gigantic proportions — my army of Amazons — was born in that context. It was my way of expressing power and strength through painting, and also my self-affirmation manifesto.
It was through mural painting that I got my first commissions, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I made the leap to canvas.
Graffiti continues to be a largely male-dominated space. How did you navigate that growing up and aside from the medium of spray painting, what graffiti techniques or lessons do you still incorporate today?
I turned adversity into opportunity. The fact that it was difficult, territorial and masculine didn’t put me off. On the contrary, it made me gain momentum. In spite of everything, it always provided more positive contributions than negative ones, and today, I am grateful to have grown up in the underground and self-taught culture of graffiti.
Although the codes and discipline are different between graffiti and painting, there are many approaches I still take that are similar, such as dimension, textures, and technique.
Your artwork is reminiscent of surreal characters found in ‘90s cartoon shows. How did you first develop this aesthetic?
I always liked cartoons. I was fascinated by their giant, expressive eyes, and the funny simple faces of their characters to the point where I subconsciously started to draw and reinterpret those characters to invent others. Disney’s Silly Symphonies were mesmerizing and probably one of my first aesthetic references. I loved the fantasy world they recreated, in which everything, absolutely everything, had a little face — from trees and flowers to instruments, and dancing skeletons.
Series and characters like Doraemon, the Ninja Turtles, Arale, Muscleman and Pingu also left an impression on me. Cartoons became my first catalyst for drawing and creating my own characters.
