Growing up in the Coachella Valley, Adriana recalls
feeling completely alien spending summers in mountainous Columbia
with extended family. One of Adriana's favorite places in Columbia
is theMuseo del
Oro. Each visit
to the museum brought her closer to her culture and eventually
inspired the art she creates today as Pura.
In this
episode, Adriana
shares memories celebrating holidays together with other Columbia
families in the valley and the joy and comfort of enjoying their
traditional foods together.
Adriana left the Coachella Valley for college, seeing
there weren’t many opportunities for those who stayed. She attended
St. Louis University, where she received a full dose of winter -
and is still not over it.
After
graduating, Adriana was working in sculpture and metal work and was
looking to set up her studio. The equipment was pretty expensive,
steel was going up in price and after looking at all the costs
involved, Adriana decided to take her art in a different direction.
She began to reflect on her attraction to metals which found her
diving deep into researching gold and it’s connection to her roots.
Adriana continues studying her deep ties to Columbia, incorporating
gold into her work as the artist, Pura. Adriana loves to create
street art but has yet to find a mentor to take her out to create
it. She explains why the experience can be intimidating for female
artists to do on their own.
Adriana was recently stepped into a leadership role
with theWyld
Womxnorganization – an artist feminist collective in the
Coachella Valley.