Ni De Aqui Carpetas
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No Todo Lo Que Brilla Es Oro

Photography

No Todo Lo Que Brilla Es Oro (2024) portrays Elizabeth Alvarez in a deeply personal and visually layered interpretation of “not everything that glitters is gold.” This phrase is often used as a warning, suggesting that appearances can be deceiving, that something or someone seemingly valuable may not be what they seem. While it can serve as a cautionary reminder, it is too often weaponized, especially among women to cast doubt, foster competition, or judge others without understanding their full story.

 

This artwork turns the phrase inside out, shifting the perspective to the one being judged, misunderstood, and diminished, and reclaims her right to shine authentically and unapologetically.

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In the first photograph, the viewer is introduced to Elizabeth not through her face, but through an image of her hand adorned with glittering fake gold rings, resting atop a mound of dirt. Her long, polished nails and glittery exterior reflect the assumptions people often make based on appearance alone. The mound of dirt, while humble and grounded, symbolizes the way others may attempt to reduce her to nothing more than flash or facade. This image speaks to superficial judgment the dismissal of someone based solely on how they present, without knowing the depth of their story, struggles, or strength.

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The second photograph brings us closer to Elizabeth's emotional reality. She sits atop the same mound of dirt, her body covered in glitter, holding a sparkling heart close to her chest. Her expression is pained but resilient, reflecting the internal impact of other people’s words the sting of being talked down to, judged, or misunderstood. Here, the heart becomes a symbol of her vulnerability and strength, still shining despite being surrounded by metaphorical dirt. 

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In the final image, Elizabeth stands tall and grounded on the same mound now transformed. With one hand on her glittering heart and her face turned toward the sun, she embodies peace, self acceptance, and transcendence. The sunlight connects her to her ancestors, who shine their love and protection onto her. She rises above the words, assumptions, and judgments of others, not in arrogance, but in self-honor. No Todo Lo Que Brilla Es Oro becomes a declaration: you are not the dirt they try to bury you in. You are made to shine, regardless of how others perceive your worth. Through Elizabeth’s journey in these photographs, the work invites us to lift each other up, to look deeper, and to remember that real gold lives within.

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ARTWORKS FROM THIS INSTALLATION

LENGUAS

DELICADA

LO QUE UNA VEZ FUE DELICADO SE CONVIERTE EN SÓLIDO

SOLO VENTANAS

CORAZÓN DE NOPAL

CACTI

IZQUIERDA

ME QUIERES MUCHO, NO ME QUIERES NADA

Me Quieres Mucho, No Me Quieres Nada (2026) is an installation I constructed during my month-long residency at Casa Lü in Mexico City. The work is an abstracted self-portrait built from the emotional residue of the last several years, my experiences within a toxic relationship, betrayal, encounters with men and women in positions of authority, questions of cultural identity and belonging, and the complicated feeling of being loved by people who no longer seemed to like, understand, or accept me.

 

I was thinking about what it means to be “liked, but not liked”: to once feel wanted by the people I loved and then experience rejection, comparison, criticism, or dismissal from those same people. The installation became a space where I could finally confront what I had been too busy to grieve while completing my MFA and navigating everything happening around me. Influenced by female rage songs and women speaking openly about their experiences, I approached the installation much like I approach filmmaking. Coming from a cinema background, I think of a body of work as a film: there are characters, color palettes, compositions, objects, symbols, and a soundtrack. Music by artists such as Japanese Breakfast, Te Vi En Un Planetario, Margaritas Podridas, and Faouzia helped shape the emotional atmosphere of the work. The installation is accompanied by a five-minute poem that must be listened to while moving through the space, making the viewer not simply an observer, but part of the narrative and a forced listener to this specific story. 

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Every element carries a piece of the story. The cacti, thorns, tongues, lace, windows, and architectural forms become characters within this emotional landscape, while the pink that consumes the installation operates as both a visual language and an act of defiance. Pink is deeply connected to the visual landscape of Mexico, its architecture, cars, clothing, and everyday environments, but it has also become personal to me. After being told during my MFA that I should NOT make a pink show and, more broadly, that I should tone myself down, be softer, or make myself more palatable, embracing excess became its own form of rebellion. Here, pink is unapologetic. It IS too much because I was told I was too much. The work is filled with small “easter eggs”...the cactus shaped like a raised middle finger, a tongue referencing my former partner, and other details that may reveal themselves differently to each viewer.

 

Returning to Mexico allowed me to reconnect with materials, soil, thorns, architecture, color, and structures that feel deeply connected to my history and identity. Working with these materials became unexpectedly therapeutic. I could experiment, make mistakes, be excessive, be angry, be tender, and, most importantly, make whatever I wanted, which is a very normal part of expressing oneself in a healthy and artistic way. Me Quieres Mucho, No Me Quieres Nada is stubborn, vulnerable, angry, playful, and deeply personal. It is a space where I allow myself to remember what happened, grieve what I lost, and confront what still hurts. I heal through making art; I take what I cannot always say and give it a physical form. Although this installation comes from my own experiences, I hope that its emotional honesty creates a space for others to recognize something of themselves. To feel heard, to feel seen, to confront their own pain, and perhaps to begin healing.

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