ART: Painting Taíno

Amanda Hernandez

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

Amanda Hernandez

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

Amanda Hernandez

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

PAINTING: Who I am...

Story by Tara Ryazansky

Photos Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

Artist Amanda Hernandez paints a woman’s face half obscured by abstract shapes. “I try to be totally present and to not really think about what is happening on the paper,” she explains. “A lot of artists sketch it out, but I just start painting on the canvas. That’s the way I usually opWho I am... erate; start painting and see what happens.” For Hernandez, painting is like a form of self-care. “Once I had my son, who is six years old now, I started diving into myself a little bit more spiritually, and in that time, I started painting again. It’s something I would do for myself as a form of my own therapy,” Hernandez says. Hernandez is a selftrained artist with a background working in mental health. “I worked in Bayonne Medical Center on the psychiatric unit for four years,” she says, adding that her work leading groups inspired her as an artist. “What I found is that when people hear someone else’s story and when it

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

resonates and has a common thread with their own, they don’t feel alone. That’s the power of group. So I thought, ‘If I experience something while I’m drawing, I’m going to jot it down and put it in the caption so that if somebody resonates with it, they won’t feel alone.”

Hernandez shares her artwork on Instagram under the name @a.wear__. The name is a play on her fi rst initial, and that she started out by selling wearable art in the form of earrings. Plus, she wanted to build awareness about mental health. “It’s @a.wear__ like aware,” she explains. She says that she still will occasionally create a limited amount of jewelry, but she’s concentrating more on painting with the hope of making a body of work for a future gallery show.

The faces that show up repeatedly in Hernandez’s work look a bit like her.

“I don’t think it’s a self-portrait necessarily,” Hernandez says. “A lot of times when I paint, I’ll meditate, and I’ll be like, ‘God, just guide my hands and let thIem go where ever they’re meant to go.’

I found that whenever I was doing that, I would make half of a face that looks tribal and feminine most of the time. I think it has to do with my upbringing coming from a single-parent household. My mom was that strong Latina mom who got everything done and made sure we were always OK. She would always say, ‘I’m Taíno.’ They’re the indigenous group from Puerto Rico. They were like what the Native Americans are to North America; they are to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. She would always say we have it in our blood.”

Hernandez says that she never gave it much thought or researched Taíno culture until she began making art. She was surprised to learn that a lot of details that she painted were connected to her roots.

“When I started painting, I started putting the little red dots under the eyes, and it was like the mask of the tribe. I didn’t know that they wore a red mask. It felt like the ancestors were speaking through me,” Hernandez explains. “I started following pages on Instagram that educate people on the Taíno Indian. I started to feel like maybe there needs to be representation of this group. They say even in textbooks that they are extinct, but there are groups that are all throughout the Caribbean that are living Taíno. I just saw this was something that was always coming out when I was painting. They say that our ancestors live in our DNA. I felt like my ancestors were saying I should show who I am, show who we are, and show that women are strong in our culture. The Taíno culture had women chiefs leading the group.”

Sharing her story along with her artwork has helped Hernandez grow her community as well. She says, “I found that this has been the thing that has connected me with people, with women, with mothers who are in a state of becoming. A state of, ‘I’m a mom, so I have to dedicate my time here, and I work, so I have to dedicate my time here, but I also have this creative part of me that is almost overwhelming.” — BLP

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez

Courtesy of Amanda Hernandez