Katrina Reyes

Artist Statement

I am a teenage girl from West Haven, Connecticut. I attend West Haven High School where the school and town are very culturally diverse. It is not uncommon for interracial couples to exist. Hence, my parents came together and I was born into a multiracial household with two siblings. My father is a Peruvian immigrant and my mother is an African American woman born and raised in Connecticut. In front of my Peruvian family members, I am considered “too American” due to my inarticulate Spanish. In front of my Black family members, I feel too Latina because I don’t always speak English. My racial and cultural identity has always been a confusing aspect of my life, which has driven me to focus more on my artwork. Making art is a way for me to escape from the real world.  

Every aspect of art captivates me with its intricacies and symbolism. Making art has been a passion of mine ever since I hit puberty. I love using pencil, paint, ink, and photography as a way of self-expression. When I use a medium, I focus on what makes that medium unique. Since I can draw anything in pencil, I tend to draw abstract ideas. As for paint and ink, I focus on the colorful sides of life and make them, in a word, beautiful. For photographs, I embrace the crisp lines. I love how photographs capture moments, emotions, and hidden realizations. Making a world where only the camera, myself, and the viewer exist is fascinating for me. Although the photograph is grounded in reality, it is a reality not everyone sees. 

I photograph nature, light, objects, and anything that is interesting to me at that moment. I also like to shoot at different angles and focus on texture, color, and aperture. Making colors inverted, heavily saturated, or very desaturated interests me due to how it changes the photo. Photos have a feeling to them that a painting cannot produce.        

—Katrina Reyes, West Haven High School ’25

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