Veronica A. Perez. Photograph by Coco McCracken.

University of Southern Maine recently announced its spring 2023 artist-in-residence, Veronica A. Perez.

Perez’s work is between interdisciplinary sculpture and community practice, encouraging a reflection on identity for participants and viewers alike.

Perez’s project with USM is titled “braiding circles.” It will be an immersive installation featuring hair, hands, and oral stories that ruminate on themes such as fractured identity, representation and power through the vision of students and community members in USM and Portland and how these intimate stories can comment on larger systemic issues that affect BIPOC folx in the immediate communities.

“My work lies at the intersection of identity, vulnerability, protection and power, using materials such as hair, sugar and chain link fencing to reveal hidden and forgotten parts of one’s identity,” Perez writes. “They reflect the experience of the artist and an experience of a diaspora of Latinx folx. My practice is further informed by research on the effects of colonialism and gentrification within individuals relating to identity politics. This research-based practice about the psychological impact of white supremacy is related to my personal experiences as a biracial person. My father, a Puerto Rican man, would openly wish for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed child. I assumed he wanted a kid that looked like my mom. I now realize years after his death, he hoped for his children to have an easier time navigating this world. For this reason, visual art has served as a catalyst for understanding the world. Art helps me understand socio-political issues that affect me and the communities that surround me. In turn, this aids me in working together with said communities toward mutual aid, representation, and interdependence.”

Perez’s engagement with USM started in January.

Perez will give a lecture at 6 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Glickman Library and online via Zoom.

Braiding circles community events open to the public will happen from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Gorham Art Gallery and noon to 2 p.m. Feb. 16 at Portland Diversity Center.

The Braiding Circles culminating exhibition will open on May 11.