On a Human
Oscar Alfonso works with text, digital media, and installations. He may also write and occasionally organize things to be shown or studied in relation to each other, but he remains unsure if he qualifies for either of these things. Born en La Ciudad de México on the former lakebed of el lago de Texcoco he was raised in the vicinity of Vancouver in the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), and QauQayt First Nations. As a result he is one of those generation 1.5 types that is neither here nor there, constantly trying to understand place, always reflecting on what it means to ‘be away’ and on who is not ‘here.’
His practice focuses on reconstructing a relationship to home through childhood memories, urban environments, and by connecting and reconnecting with his relations both chosen and biological. Interested in telling stories he is constantly in the process of learning a great many things and forgetting just as many. Able to express himself in English and Spanish through gestures, the written word, and miscellaneous sounds, he sometimes tries to learn Swedish, Nahuatl, German, and French. He remains unconvinced that he actually likes his name.
After a long term relationship with higher education that has included numerous outings into history, geology, publishing, architecture, international relations, and psychology, Oscar Alfonso somehow settled on the Visual Arts as his chief mode of communication, whatever that might actually mean. He received a BFA in Visual Arts and BA in History, and Print and Digital Media Publishing from Simon Fraser University in 2017 and is tentatively receiving a Masters of Visual Studies Degree from the University of Toronto in the Fall of 2021.
Contact
osalfonsos@gmail.com
Curriculum V
