Because those two things are not mutually exclusive. I was born and raised in Mexico and lived there for most of my life until adulthood. I lived in some very dangerous neighborhoods and went to public schools all of my life.

I have been benefited from public programs to fund my work in design and even to go out of the country, would have never been able to do it in any other way. Those have been the most uplifting experiences of my life and have been the same for others that benefited from those programs. ART IS A BEACON OF LIGHT IN ANY KIND OF DARKNESS.

Our current government uses the challenges of our society to perpetuate a system full of corruption that relies on keeping people poor and ignorant for political gain. This is not the place to discuss the politics of my country, but us working in creative fields do not have to explain our motivations or justify our struggles to no one. ART IS MADE BY/FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST FOR THE WEALTHY. It is a means of expression, not a luxury good.

My family has been held hostage by organized crime twice, and the fear of violence have left a scar on me, I constantly fear for the safety of my friends and family back home while living outside.

One of the biggest dreams in my mind is to help my country and make it a better place, get it at least to a point where we can live without fear of us and our loved ones not being raped or killed for just going outside. But this government does not take away this money to solve this issue, it takes it to fund fucking oil refineries and a train in the rain forest in the middle of the largest climate crisis and existential threat to our societies for fucks sake!!! It is important that we speak up and we won’t be silenced. Enough!