By CAPRI GAHR
Student Writer
Having graduated high school and working at a hardware store, the Navy held what she was looking for.
Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez believed she was capable of more than just making money at the same job. She joined the U.S. Navy. While logging her traveling and experiences on her personal camera, she discovered that there could be more to photography than catching family moments and sunsets.
Ramirez has been reconstructing personal history and searching for answers throughout her journey. After the Navy, she decided to pursue higher education and now holds an associates, bachelors, and masters concerning art and photography. Her bodies of work try to answer questions about her own existence. Being raised by a single mother who escaped El Salvador during periods of violence and unrest, her mother settled on the east coast. Ramirez is the fourth child out of eight. Her mother was a seamstress and planned on returning home to build her own shop in El Salvador and reconnect with her oldest daughter who remained there. Life got in the way and she remained in Maryland and raised her children.
Ramirez created a book of pictures she captured throughout schooling. Having never met or seen her father, she set out to capture people he could have been.
This work contained pictures of men who matched the description of what her father would have looked like. She then averaged the skin tone of the men and created a paint color to match. Painting the wall that color and setting the book of pictures with it, she had created an art piece that told her personal history by creating a new history.
Ramirez believes her biggest inspiration is her mother. Fleeing her home to procure a better life for her family and supporting 8 children on her own is how Ramirez defines her mother’s strength.Ramirez is currently the artist in residence on campus.
She is creating new work to present at art shows at the Graceful Arts Center on the 2nd of February and in the art department’s studio on the 8th and 9th. This is her first residency as an artist. Ramirez graduated with her masters in May from the University of Texas and taught intermediate photography there for a short time.
She decided to come to Alva due to being acquainted with Kyle Larson, who is an art instructor. Her favorite part of this residency is being able to focus and use her time productively. She believes that only having to focus on her work and creative process is both positive and negative. Although she enjoys the free time to plan her newest body of work, being completely free has its downside. Changing her mind and overthinking her work has been her own struggle and believes this is a part of every artist’s creative process.
Her art is still centered on personal aspects of her life. Tackling ideas about her future and potentially having a family of her own, she will continue to pursue artistic photography in new ways. Ramirez plans on applying to do more residencies.