Orison emerges from the intersections of religion, memory, and ritual. Drawing on the aesthetics of Catholicism—altars, confessionals, and the language of prayer—I explore how these symbols have shaped my creative practice and my relationship to culture. Catholicism is inseparable from my family’s matriarchal memory: my abuelas’ prayers, the veladoras burning in kitchens, the images of La Virgen that watched over us. These rituals gave structure, belonging, and beauty, even as they carried the contradictions of a faith rooted in colonization. In this body of work, I consider prayer not only as a religious act but as a form of creative practice. The repetition, gestures, and devotion in prayer mirror the ways I paint, assemble, and embellish. Each canvas becomes a kind of orison: a whispered plea, an act of reverence, or a confrontation with doubt. Traditional oil painting anchors the work in an art historical lineage of religious imagery, while airbrush and automotive paint recall the surface culture of lowriding—a secular yet deeply spiritual practice of transformation. Dollar-store embellishments such as rhinestones and craft flowers extend the rasquache aesthetic, elevating what is humble and accessible into the sacred. By layering these material languages together, the works stage their own kind of altar. Through Orison, I reflect on how Catholic aesthetics persist in Chicano culture—not only as markers of devotion but as sites of inheritance, creativity, and unresolved
complexity.
complexity.

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Jacqueline Valenzuela (b. 1997, East Los Angeles, CA) received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from CSU, Long Beach (2019) and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting at UCLA (expected 2027). She has had solo exhibitions at the Bakersfield Museum of Art (Con Safos, Con Fuerza, 2024), Brand Library & Art Center (Orison, 2025), and College of the Canyons (Divine Rides: Rasquache Relics, 2025). Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Bakersfield Museum of Art and the AltaMed Art Collection, one of the most significant holdings of Chicano art. Valenzuela has received recognition from the California Arts Council, the Long Beach Arts Council, and UCLA’s Graduate Opportunity Award. She has also completed residencies at the Torrance Art Museum, Blue Roof Arts, ArtShare L.A., and INCUBATOR AiR in Mexico City. Her practice extends into public and commercial projects, with commissions for Meta x Ray-Bans, JCPenney, and the U.S. Bank Tower. Community engagement is central to her work: she has created lowrider-inspired workshops with institutions such as the Ontario Museum of History & Art, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Museum of Latin American Art. Rooted in her lived experience, Valenzuela’s interdisciplinary practice focuses on personal memory and the narratives of women in the Chicano lowrider community, bridging fine art traditions with underrepresented cultural aesthetics.

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