SER DE | NI DE

SER DE | NI DE is an immersive installation that explores diaspora, belonging, and memory through sound, sculpture, and storytelling. Rooted in my experience as a queer, first-generation Salvadoran, the work holds the tension of living between worlds while engaging decolonization and ancestral reclamation. It centers the vulnerability of searching for belonging through my family’s histories of migration, intergenerational trauma, healing, and reconciliation.

The installation functions as both offering and disruption, reconnecting fragmented histories while challenging colonial narratives. At its core is a series of ceramic drums that operate as both sculptural objects and vessels of memory. Some hold recorded interviews with my family, sharing lived experiences of migration, identity, and resilience. Others invite visitors to engage through rhythm and sound, activating the space through participation.

An altar composed of clay, sand, and straw acts as a threshold between past and present, grounding the work in ancestral material memory. Together, these elements create a living soundscape where stories are not only heard, but felt. The installation invites audiences to encounter immigrant narratives as embodied, relational, and collective, shaped by resilience, ancestry, and ongoing healing.

@artbugallery
2441 HUNTER ST UNIT B
LOS ANGELES, CA

On view:
4.25.26 - 5.9.26

Opening reception:
4.25 - 6-10pm

Closing reception:
5.9 - 6-10pm