May 11, 20214 min read

Rita Jimenez

By Sarah Copeland, Alenis Baez, and Joseph Noda

Rita Jimenez is a multimedia light artist from Jersey City, New Jersey. They distort and manipulate the reality of light around them with photography, video, projection, and iridescent materials. They have a BFA in photography and an MFA in Light Media from New Jersey City University. They have exhibited in Jersey City, New York City, and Barcelona. According to their page on “Holocenter’s” website, the themes of their work are Surrealist in nature, with an Impressionist approach towards the Sublime, dreams, and memory. Their light installations induce a sense of playfulness and childlike wonder, while yearning to create a space that welcomes and heals.

According to Rita, they have been an avid dreamer for their entire life. In a description written about themself, Rita’s childhood was spent in the gardens of their imagination. They often decorated corners of their home with objects they considered enchanted, like stones, flowers, glitter, and kaleidoscopes. Now, the air of the mystical and ethereal still courses through their veins as an adult artist, and their main medium is light for this reason. They also say that their approach is playful, relying on the process to be as unbiased as possible, with intuition being a motivating structure and the arrangement and assemblage are not completely random – it is intentional. When Rita feels the piece has a breath to it, that is when they know it’s finished.

Rita is a part of the Neo-Latino Collective, which is a group dedicated to the understanding and expression of the contemporary Latinx experience in the United States. Due to their involvement in this group, we got to interview Rita via email:

How did you come to join the Neo-Latino Collective? How does your work fit into its objectives? I was asked to be a part of it briefly before the pandemic. I had just finished my MFA program at NJCU and was referred to by my mentor, Hugo Bastidas. My work fits in the objectives by actively expressing myself as a Latina artist and to share the talent and vision from our community.

What influenced you to choose a certain medium? I have always been drawn to light art and different digital medias. I find an ethereal and spiritual connection to it.

Can you tell us about any artistic influences you might have? Specific artists? Have they changed over time? Most definitely many light artists such as James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Pippilotti Rist. But I also admire installation artists that combine performance as well, since a lot of my work has to do with live play. Yayoi Kusama, Mariko Mori. Claude Monet has been my oldest influence when I first started my BFA.

Has your geographic location played an influence on your artwork? I think growing up in Hudson County has inspired me to be very colorful and full of patterns since I've been surrounded by so much culture, ethnicities. Close access to NYC has allowed me to see many light art exhibits in person.

Has the coronavirus given you new ideas or inspiration to portray? I first started my "Portals" series, video collages, at the start of the pandemic. I wanted viewers to have a way to "escape" through a little window in their phone.

Did you train as an artist, or are you self-taught? If you went to school, what classes/subjects/teachers were the most helpful? I had my BFA in photography and my MFA in Light Media. My aesthetic theories classes were helpful towards my concepts. I got the most out of independent study, though.

Are you trying to convey a message or messages in your work? (subject matter) Themes around my work are the sublime, consciousness, dreams, alternate universes.

Does your work speak to current social and political issues? Not really. Maybe just in the way of how we're overloaded with information and often disassociate from it.

What do you want your audience to feel or think after looking at your art? I want them to feel the sublime, fleeting feelings of joy or drama, serenity. Dreamy.

How has your style changed over the years? It has gotten more "me", if that makes sense.

What do you think is your responsibility as an artist? Share beauty and joy.

Best piece of advice you can give to future artists/creatives? Don't focus on what's been done before, or who 's doing what around you. It will only let you lose focus. Develop your craft and vision. And don't worry about money, that will come eventually.

Rita has two instagram accounts where you can follow them, iritadescent (main account, https://www.instagram.com/iritadescent/) and auralightspa (second account, https://www.instagram.com/auralightspa/). Rita also has a shop called The Iritadescent Shop at https://www.ritajimenez.com/shop. Here, they sell a variety of things like pendants, photobooks and stone necklaces.

Here are two examples of Light Work done by artists that Rita has mentioned as influences: