ROMÁN ANAYA

Growing up in the state of Wyoming, being a member of the queer community, being raised in an actively Catholic Mexican family, and experiencing and witnessing many medical hardships play a large role in the work I create. I combine family history, religion, illness and my own upbringing to explore unique and alluring ways to present my life experiences with impact. I examine masculinity through an alternative lens by glorifying the queer identity and challenging preconceived ideas about binary gender and sexuality. My work helps me address the hardships I experience every day as someone living with epilepsy and bipolar depression and has helped me cope with the many medical hardships my family has experienced. I find inspiration in these types of dichotomies. The juxtaposition of two subjects that contradict one another inspire series that display how typically incongruous influences can create their own harmonies.

Machismo: “A strong or exaggerated sense of manliness; an assumptive attitude that virility, courage, strength, and entitlement to dominate are attributes or concomitants of masculinity. A strong or exaggerated sense of power or the right to dominate.” (dictionary.com)