ANGELA GUERRA WALLEY

Baby Blanket Bear Portraits, 2023

My stuffed bear piece was created from my baby blanket with the same pattern my mother, Irene Herrera Houser, used over thirty years ago to make toy bears for my two sisters and I when we were children. Everything I construct is made with the intention to sooth and comfort, like my maternal figures did. This soft sculpture was then used to express joy and comfort in my ongoing self-portrait series.

Historically women in my family have not had the privilege of creating and controlling their own image. For me, self-portraits are a practice of self-love, self-reflection, and empowering solitude. Within my practice, they allow me to document my expressions of love and humor through performance. My series of lighthearted self-portrait photographs allow audiences to see my objects being used as intended. In these portraits I’m recalling both the aesthetic of fashion magazines of my youth, but also the silliness my teenage friends and I captured in flashes with our disposable cameras.