Gaib Ramirez

18-year-old Gaib Ramirez has been pursuing various mediums of art for the past few years, namely drawing, painting, ceramics and poetry. They put their entire self into each thing they create. “Everything that I make, I refer to it as a selfportrait, because it’s how I’m feeling,” they tell me.

“To me, it’s a lot more powerful than just journaling, because I don’t want to read on dumb shit that I was going through that day. I just want to look at my art and be like, holy shit, I made that out of this emotion. I think it’s good because it helps me express who I really am, in a simplistic form.” Using this art as an outlet for their emotions, creating a “metaphorical” body, is the subject of much of their work.

That’s why they like interacting with others in the DIY scene. “It gives you a chance to see who the people in the DIY scene are, who

they really are, their true selves, versus what they portray to family and friends. It’s really interesting to see that there are real people behind the art.”

Gaib takes part in the DIY scene to distance themselves from the mainstream art and media that limited them in high school art classes, and in life overall, where diversity is lacking. “Especially within the youth of San Diego DIY, there is so much diversity because it’s typically the only way people who are experiencing diversity can express themselves without being belittled by mainstream art or media.

“People say that the United States is a melting pot, but that’s kind of hard to believe. I think San Diego is a real, true melting pot, so it’s really cool to see people’s different cultures and stuff being portrayed in the way they like to express it.”

Gaib finds themselves involved in much of the political activism surrounding them in San Diego. The DIY scene supports them in this pursuit by showing others “what movements we’re standing behind.The DIY scene is trying really hard to change the world, in a sense, by making things that don’t want to be seen, seen.

“I also think it’s important for the older generations to really experience, hey, all these things that you thought were bad,

aren’t bad. I’ve seen a lot of sexual art, and you don’t portray it as pornography. You portray it as art, because that’s what it is. But I know, to some older generations, they’re gonna be like, oh, you’re going to hell for that. I think it’s kind of like a wake up call to older generations, like, hey: you’re fucking wrong. Not everything is evil.”

Find more of Gaib’s art on their Instagram, @letssinkthesky