Artist interview: Stephanny Lucero
Gardens of Memory: Stephanny Lucero's artistic explorations of loss and renewal
Stephanny Lucero holds a bachelor in Visual Arts from the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda”, where she specialized in painting.
However, her body of work embraces a multidisciplinary approach, encompassing installation, painting, sculpture, and performance.
In her artistic practice, she metaphorically explores human emotions and experiences through nature and flowers, providing a healing perspective on both the physical and spiritual aspects of our existence.
Notable showcases include Humores florales, a 2022 solo show held at La Verdi under the direction of Ana Gallardo, and El jardín de Eva, held at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda” in 2024.
We had the opportunity to visit her at her Mexico City studio, where she shared some insight into her artistic process and inspiration.
What was your first approach to art?
Ever since I was a child I was always fascinated by art in its different forms; I used to do dance and theater. Later in life, when I started experiencing loss and grief, I felt the need to fill those absences in some way. My father and an aunt were my greatest losses. Through painting and objects, I wanted to bring them back to life, to remember them, to keep saying their names.
My work is very colorful; it’s like that image of what you wish it were, but it isn’t. An ideal: finding a small garden and saying, "I’ll cultivate it, I’ll plant it." A place of rest, where the mind can be set, and where I try to find what is no longer there.
Where does your interest in the multidisciplinary come from, particularly your interest in performance art and its connection to painting?
Performance came from my own life experience, as I have a background in dance and theater. But I also believe that painting is very physical, especially when I work with such large formats. I feel that the process was very natural, because I'm interested in how, when you look at a painting, the body becomes engaged, creating a sensory, even extrasensory, experience. Everything is in play when you're confronted with something like that. Additionally, for me, painting is very physical; I love working with music, painting while moving.
What does painting mean to you?
Besides being a way to release everything I carry inside, a personal repository, painting is also a form of learning and a tribute to what is no longer here. I believe life is fragile and not eternal, but I find something beautiful in that fragility. Despite the pain (...) I think it's important to discover what is valuable, what is beautiful, and that is what I aim to capture in my paintings.
Lately, I have been exploring the mythology around being a woman, what it means and represents, especially at the crossroads of desire and religion. I studied in a Catholic school, so painting has become a way for me to question everything I learned there, reflecting on guilt, desire, and tradition. I believe there are experiences that remain in the body, and sometimes they need to be exorcised. That’s why I paint.
