“I don’t remember a moment when I became an artist,” says Justo, who as a child was amply creative, drawing and painting as children do. “I just didn’t stop,” reflects the contemporary mixed media artist today. Her current works traverse photography, paint and embroidery, and reflects on “the social and political powers that affect me, an immigrant and a Latin woman, and my community.” Typically, law enforcement officers and immigrants are protagonists in Justo’s works. Separated by class, race and social status, her characters have hybrid gender identities. Officers are placed upside down with “an intent to disrupt power structures.” Justo maintains “immigrants are the ones who feel the deepest impacts of systemic power imbalances.” Justo is also inspired by the geometric patterns of the Mapuche culture, which invoke the circle to signify unity and oneness. “Within the context of my work, the Circle highlights organizations dedicated to helping immigrants.” Often, her images are compositions of vintage photographs manipulated with modern technology. “I use them to illustrate the flow of time and to throw light on current social conflicts,” says Justo, who explores the historical significance of the imagery with regard to present social struggles. “The role of the artist is to give society the tools to resist discrimination and to protest all other injustices.” Working out of New York, Justo struggles to combine diverse artistic styles and make them work seamlessly as one. Her current project focuses on the migrant deaths of people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border. Following that, Justo is developing public projects that focus on social justice, particularly issues of segregation and discrimination.
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