Itzel Gomez-Ruiz

I'm very proud of my culture, history, and ethnicity as a Chicana/Latina, and I try my best to express that through my art and anything I produce. My work is not always about my culture; it can explore the relationship between sexuality, relationships between urban spaces and multiculturalism, class identities, and emotional memories.  My background with art began with the women in my family. My grandma is known in San Diego for making beautiful murals in Chicano Park, most of which are still there today and my main influence is my tia, Karla Ruiz. She is the one that helped me with my journey as an artist. She was born and raised in Tijuana, and grew up traveling the world as her job. Taking in so many cultures from a variety of countries and states, she taught me to see our fascinating world, its art, and everything it offers us in a new light. What fueled my passion to study art and pursue this as a serious career, was the inspiration that my other tia, Aida Ruiz, gave me. She is a political activist who was involved in the Zapatista rebellion movement of Chiapas, Mexico, in 1994. As a photographer, she documented the powerful protests, and the violence that went along with it. Growing up, seeing all that triumph then turn into a manipulated hegemony of power has really impacted my art and how I view the influential power of such art. 

My goal is to have a successful career in Illustration. Growing up I always admired and had an interest in comic books/manga.  I would love to have my own webtoon or join a team of other talented creatives to make a comic of our own. Personally I didn’t apply to many colleges because I was unsure if I was going to take a gap year or not, however I did get accepted to all the schools I applied to! I chose OTIS College because it's been a dream school of mine ever since I started to take my art more seriously, I was also granted a $20,000 yearly scholarship. Though I'm still growing as an artist and person, I am continuing to work to understand and explore the depth of my political, emotional and cultural ideology and icons.  I look forward to doing all of those things and more at OTIS College.