about me
Hello! I am Marissa Hernandez, an artist/muralist from Des Moines, Iowa.
A large portion of my work focuses on identity. Growing up in a low-income household, and the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, I struggled to fit in with the upper middle-class white population around me. Low-income BIPOC/children of immigrants often carry the weight of securing financial success for their families, with little time to explore their passions. For most of my life that was my identity; the unassuming child of an immigrant who does well in school with plans of working in a STEM field. Creativity was always just a fun pastime for me. In college, I rekindled my passion for art, and with my parents’ blessing, took a chance on pursuing art as a career.
My work explores marginalized identities using shape, color, and portraiture. I create work that acknowledges the subtleties of these groups as I continuously educate myself on the issues each community faces. My murals place BIPOC in soft, colorful, and idealistic worlds, to challenge the idea that BIPOC always have to preform, or be extraordinary in exchange for existence. These spaces I create allow BIPOC to be themselves, and care for themselves without catering to the white gaze. My murals include faceless figures, so that anyone can project their own likeness onto a figure they most identify with. I hope my work makes others feel safe & celebrated in their identity, so that we can start to break any generational trauma that is keeping us from being who we truly are.