STUDIO LENCA: “YOUR IDENTITY IS YOUR SUPERPOWER”

COFFEE WITH

Name: Jose Campos, also known as Studio Lenca
Profession: Artist
Nationality: Salvadoran
Instagram: @studiolenca

LATINNESS: Jose, your work as an artist centers on themes of immigration, identity and cultural pride inspired by your personal story of arriving and growing up in the United States as an undocumented immigrant. I’m curious about the role art played in your childhood?

JOSE: So being an undocumented immigrant was quite tough, and art was a way of escaping that reality. I was a young queer boy in a very machista household, and art allowed me to be myself. It allowed me to express my full identity.

LATINNESS: From your education, it seems you clearly wanted to be an artist and went directly into the arts, from the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of Arts to the London Contemporary Dance School, and eventually even teaching art in London. When did you realize this was your calling? And was this an easy conversation to have with your family?

JOSE: I always think about making recuerdos. I don’t know if you know about this, but for quinceaneras and things like that, we sat around and made these with my family. That was really the first time I remember being creative and using materials to express myself. I always talk about that because it’s important to acknowledge that creativity exists within our families already.

So I explored that, and then teachers kind of understood that I was very creative. I went to the School of Arts in San Francisco, and it was through education and teachers telling me “this is for you”. My mother was cleaning houses, trying to survive. She didn’t really understand that this was important to me. I always think about those teachers who said, “You should come along after school or do more things like that”.

I eventually moved to the UK when I was about 19 years old. While there, I started going to galleries and museums because they were free, and I thought, “Well, I actually could do this”.

I then went to Goldsmiths University, which was a very radical school. So I thought not, not only am I interested in making work as an artist, but I’m also interested in thinking about the world critically.

LATINNESS: And what led you to dance?

JOSE: That was just my situation in my neighborhood. There was a dance school, so I went to try out and I really liked it. There were no boys in the school, so I said, “Well, I’m the only boy. Can I come for free?” They said, “Sure, you can come!”

I spent years training as a dancer. I went to the Alvin Ailey School in New York. I trained with Alonzo King in San Francisco, and then that’s actually what brought me to the UK. I was on tour and met my partner. So, that’s an example of art literally taking you places.

LATINNESS: You were resourceful, too. You weren’t afraid of asking the question.

JOSE: Yes. I mean, that came from like, if they said no, then I couldn’t afford to do it, so I had to.

LATINNESS: You had nothing to lose. Once you were in the UK, was it challenging to find representation by a gallery early on or did that happen organically?

JOSE: Actually that happened more organically. I would say that life took over. I got a masters in Arts and Learning and became a teacher in high school.

I was teaching Art in secondary schools, which was really important because I was teaching communities that didn’t see themselves in the Arts. I became the teacher that was helping me in my past. A lot of my work was about bringing artists into the school and also taking the students into galleries and telling them, “this space is for you”.

LATINNESS: How beautiful. Out of curiosity, what does your mom say now when she sees you as an artist and sees your work?

JOSE: She’s very pleased. I make an effort to take her with me to the exhibitions and show her what I do. My first solo show was in Seoul, and I flew her out because I was like, “You need to be here. This is real.” She loves it.

LATINNESS: How did you arrive at the theme of immigration and identity? I know it’s part of your history, but how did you decide that this was what you wanted to explore through your work?

JOSE: I started painting these figures that were folkloric dancers from El Salvador called Historiantes, and eventually realized that I was trying to learn about myself and my own identity through the work that I was making. That became really important.

Then I started getting messages from people who had seen my work, and would say, “I’m from El Salvador. I never thought I would see a Salvadoran artist!”

It started to connect me to people, and I realized it was a shared experience with a lot of Salvadoran people who feel that they don’t know a lot about their backgrounds or their histories because of the country’s history. We all had to flee.

Art was a way of creating a shared space, and that really drove me. I wanted to connect to people, and I wanted my art to be useful. I wanted it to contribute something to our world.

LATINNESS: I read a quote of yours in an interview that said: “Wanting to have a better life is universal.” This is particularly true with your artwork, which appeals to many, even those outside of your native country, because of their happy, joyful nature. They are universally appealing, and while I’m sure they come from moments of pain, they’re very uplifting.

JOSE: Yeah 100%. That’s really important. That’s why I use bright colors. That’s why I use a large scale. I want these paintings to be really visible. I want them to be joyful, because, like you said, these stories are dark and heavy, and it’s about taking the power away from that and changing the narrative. It’s like okay, enough trauma.

LATINNESS: We’re very colorful as Latin Americans. Your work clearly shows an affinity for fashion in some way. Your characters are impeccably dressed, almost like dandies, and I can see you now wearing a hat with the color in the background. Can you speak to us about this relationship with fashion?

JOSE: I really love fashion. I’m always looking through magazines to see how brands are engaging with color– that really interests me. Also, the body language in fashion magazines is really interesting to me.

My figures look like this though because I started to go to the National Portrait Gallery in London and would see kings, paintings of royal families and things like that, but I would never ever see a Salvadoran figure nor an immigrant figure. So I thought of making my own version. My figures are always regal– their body language is open and beautiful. I’m looking for beauty.

LATINNESS: What I also find beautiful is how through your artwork, you’re putting El Salvadoron the map all the way from the UK. You’ve been living outside of El Salvador for most of your life, yet remain so tied to the culture. To what do you attribute this?

JOSE: I think of so many things. I think of the experience of growing up in California in a Salvadoran community and not fitting in. Yet when I go back to El Salvador, they call me gringo because I didn’t grow up there. So, where do I belong then?

There is a kind of longing for me, a longing for creating rootedness, a place that I belong. My paintings and sculptures do that. I create these things for people like me because I know I’m not the only one. It’s kind of an in-between space, and part of that process is longing for that belonging and for your country.

LATINNESS: I was listening to your interview on Talk Art, and I found it so interesting that you brought up the complexities behind a simple question like: “Where are you from?” Because it’s true, as a foreigner living abroad, often the minute you meet someone and might sound different or look different, they immediately ask, “where are you from?” And it automatically makes you feel uncomfortable.

Yet as a journalist and an all-around curious person, I often want to ask that question just as a way of connecting, if I recognize someone’s accent. I really relate to your sentiment because I often think about how loaded of a question it can be.

JOSE: Yes, absolutely I wear a wedding ring because I’m married, so sometimes people ask me about it, like “Oh, you’re married. What’s your wife’s name?” And then I have to explain, actually “my husband’s name is…”

It’s like always having to explain who you are. Then there is the whole thing of “You don’t look Latin”. So it’s like, okay, let me explain that as well.

LATINNESS: That’s a question we actually have. What does being visibly Latino mean to you?

JOSE: Oh, wow. I don’t know. I think my work kind of transcends words and language. For example, I’m opening a show at El Museo del Barrio in New York on October 10th, and the work I’m showing consists of around 30 paintings by undocumented people who are painting their journeys into the United States.

To me, that is a part of being Latin, that experience for some people, which is also my experience. What I’m trying to do is to talk about that part of us, collectively. At the same time, I’m exploring it as well.

It’s hard to pin down in words what that really means, because I live in Britain and I’m an artist, which isn’t kind of typical. I’ve gone beyond the tropes of latinness, but that’s fine because we’re also included in that, if that makes sense.

LATINNESS: Of course. That was the whole concept behind our platform Latinness. There are just so many ways to define what that means. Immigration has always been an important topic, even more so today in countries like the UK or in the US with the elections. By now we all know about the heartbreaking stories of immigrants crossing the Darien. How closely do you follow these stories, and, if so, do they inform a lot of your artwork?

JOSE: Yes, very much so. Half of the paintings at my upcoming show were made in Mexico City with the immigrants that were making their way into the US, they were all from Venezuela. That was the situation at the time. They were making their way through Mexico.

In the 80s and 90s it was the Salvadorans. It’s a response to what’s happening in our part of the world. As an artist, I can’t ignore that. I listen to it, I feel it and I try to learn from those situations.

LATINNESS: Since 2023, you’ve collaborated with the Latin American Fashion Awards by creating the trophy for the award. What was this experience like, and how did your role in this platform influence your greater work?

JOSE: It’s been an amazing experience working with the Latin American Fashion Awards. I went to the first awards ceremony in the Dominican Republic and spoke on stage about the design.

What was incredible was that this award show brought together all of these amazing creatives from Latin America. I was just looking around the room and it was full of top designers all from Latin America. I’ve never experienced anything like that.

That was the best thing– the sense of community and belonging. I didn’t have to explain myself. I was just there with people like me, and that was amazing. It was the best part.

I worked very closely with them to make sure that the trophy really embodied the values of the Latin American Fashion Awards. There were a lot of conversations back and forth, a lot of drafts, and they really got to know me as an artist, as well. Personally, it’s been such a pleasant experience.

LATINNESS: What can we expect for this next edition in terms of your collaboration?

JOSE: So the award design is two figures coming together, and they’re kind of these genderless figures carrying a jarro, or a vessel, on the back. This is a symbol of heritage and craft in the Latin American region. So it’s about not forgetting that it’s bringing that along with them. Then, in the front, there’s a bird here at the top, which is leading them towards freedom with this creative kind of explosion.

The idea is for the form of the trophy to stay the same for the life of the Latin American Fashion Awards, and then, each edition, they will invite a new artist to create patterns for the trophy.

LATINNESS: What advice do you have for younger generations of Latin artists?

JOSE: A few things come to mind. Your identity is your superpower. There are people like us, and people like you. I think when you start to share those parts, people really connect with you and your work in unexpected ways.

Images courtesy of Studio Lenca.

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