Today we’d like to introduce you to Roberto Rafael Navarrete.
Roberto Rafael, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born in Queens, New York and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. My mother and father emigrated to New York when they were in their twenties back in the 1970s. I am the fourth out of five children and my siblings, and I are first generation Peruvian Americans. I grew up working in our family business doing hardwood floors with my two brothers and have done it off and on since I was thirteen years old. Manual labor has never been a stranger in my experience and has had such an influence in my work as an artist.
I was painfully shy when I was younger and always had trouble finding comfort and/or confide in anyone outside of my family. I did not start to speak regularly until I was about four years old because of this. Finding my voice was always extremely difficult, and this lasted throughout my life.
When I finally started communicating regularly with my family, it was always in Spanish. By the time that I was finally able to open up, I started kindergarten and had to learn to communicate through the English language. It made me feel even more behind than I already was. That was when I really felt a disconnect from everyone around me. I started making friends and enjoying my childhood, but it wasn’t long until I was singled out. Once I found my voice the other kids knew I was different before I did. They all knew that I was Queer or Raro. That was the moment that my childhood ended.
Like many in our community, I was the target of verbal and physical bullying. The first form of solidarity I ever experienced was from all of my “friends” and peers gathering together to pick on the strange queer amongst them. I was outcasted right from the start which lasted for years. I’ve been called every derogatory term there is to insult my queer identity in both English and Spanish. I’ve been spit on, and I have been placed in a position where I have had to physically defend myself time and time again. Regardless of all this I still consider myself as one of the lucky ones. I overcame this, and I’m still alive to share my story. This makes my experiences and pain valid and worth the struggle. It has made me resilient and has focused my passion with being a voice for the community. This is what fuels my work as a Queer Latinx artist of color.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Shamanism, Peruvian heritage, and Sexual Identity are primary driving forces in my artwork. My research offers a bridge into the physical, emotional, and spiritual scarring caused by global intolerance towards the LGBTQIA+ community and oppression embedded by patriarchal power.
I speak/create through knots, tension, pain, experience, and my spirituality. I feel that as artists we have a responsibility to reflect on our experiences and to share them with the world. We are a residue of time. It is our own personal journey to find ourselves within the temporality that is given to us so that we can share our vision in the most honest and sincere way possible. As artists, we can heal ourselves and in turn helping others heal as well. This makes the body that I occupy within time and space as a Queer valid.
When I think about the work that I make as an artist, it can be difficult to reflect on at times because it comes from a place of pain. A painful past that has driven my passion and vision since I first developed this knotted language that I speak through. I focus on this pain because through my work I aim to heal myself from all the scars that I have carried my entire life. This gives me purpose.
The work that I offer are the scars that I have collected and embraced. I refuse to keep any part of my identity closeted or repressed any longer. Finding the language to express this was the most difficult path that I have had to take as an artist. This path became clearer the further I got into my research with my Peruvian heritage and sexual identity. I accept that I represent a fraction of marginalized body’s. I placed my focus heavily towards Feminist, Queer and Transgender Theory. Without this, I would not be able to get to the core of these scars and knots that I have held onto my entire life. I would not have the language to express my artistic practice. My objective aims to deconstruct individually knotted cords that make up the fabric of my identity and reconstruct them into a space that is all inclusive and embraces healing.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
Many of the artists that I have adored and felt an immediate connection with had all found the importance of reflecting on the times that are given to them. These artists have become my Saints. It is our duty to ingest as much as we can on a local, national and international level so that we are more aware as artists. This is how we learn to see and speak through various lenses and how we find our freedom through expression.
Nina Simone is one of my Saints that has been so influential to me. She states it the best…
“I choose to reflect the times and situations in which I find myself. That to me is my duty. And at this crucial time in our lives when everything is so desperate… How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?”
– Nina Simone –
Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can see more of my work through my website and through social media. I have a new website that has my photographic still performances at robertorafaelnavarrete.com. I post shows I am a part of and in progress pieces on my Instagram account! I absolutely love supporting everyone and anyone so please feel free to share your art and stories with me. Give me a follow @luzdeluna82 and share!
Contact Info:
- Website: robertorafaelnavarrete.com
- Phone: 678-520-9557
- Email: roberto6105@mail.com
- Instagram: @luzdeluna82
Image Credit:
Roberto Rafael Navarrete
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