We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Diego Melgoza Oceguera. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Diego below.
Diego , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from the sacrifices that my family has taken to excel in a foreign country as immigrants, as “second-class” citizens if you may. That bold journey started with my parents sacrificing culture, family, and even dignity for a better future. I have always considered myself an underdog, so it feels very satisfying to achieve my goals. As the first person in my immediate family to obtain a Master’s Degree in fine arts and as a multidisciplinary artist currently focusing on muralism, I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to continue my creative practice. Like many other Chicano artists in the United States, the journey hasn’t been easy, especially in cities Like Santa Barbara, CA, where there is a lot of bureaucracy regarding architectural artwork. In this new journey in muralism, I find resiliency in family and culture. The collective cultural efforts to make space for Latinx and Chicanx culture inspire my attempt to continue my artistry even when opportunities feel slim. I must empower my people just like they have empowered me.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I focus on visual design work, muralism, graphic design, apparel design, sculpture, installation, experimental sound, experimental video, and more. Once, my work was described as a wild card because it lacked cohesiveness during a studio visit in my master’s program at UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara). However, it felt like a compliment more than criticism, making me appreciate my mind and work. Even though I can create a cohesive body of work, allowing my practice to run freely feels liberating and truthful to the essence of creation. A lot of my late work has focused on surveillance, occupation, and immigration, examining authoritarianism. These heavy political subjects open space for conversation and reflection. However, my current role as an artist is to empower Chicanx and Latinx communities through muralism. I’m currently looking for mural opportunities and have a few opportunities lined up in San Luis Obispo, CA, and Joshua Tree, CA.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The most impactful qualities of my journey are perseverance, discipline, and gratitude.
Perseverance: My grad school experience to become a professional artist taught me that everything is possible if you put work and effort into it; literally anything!
Discipline: One has to make time to grow and create space to practice whatever the goal is. Only through discipline can we excel in our journey.
Gratitude: Thankfulness for what we have and where we stand in our growth always goes a long way.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
As I continue to put my work out there, my current challenge is finding sustainable opportunities in muralism and attempting to be fully supported by it. I have discovered that opportunities are often undermined. It’s almost as if society hasn’t understood the value of beautifying and empowering the community through visual architectural symbolism. I think the most challenging part of muralism is adjusting to the demand, pricing and perhaps a lack of understanding of this art practice. Even though art at an architectural level has the power to spark something in people, it is almost like a collective inspiration that drives us (humanity) to think differently; that is something extraordinary.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.melgo.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melgo___/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melgocreate/
- Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melgo___
Image Credits
NA
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