Ni De Aqui Carpetas
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Sonríe Más

Photography

Sonríe Más (2024) includes Karina Gudino as the central figure, embodying a powerful critique of a common dicho that translates to “smile more.” This phrase has long been weaponized against women, used to uphold unrealistic standards of femininity, docility, and perfection. Rooted in patriarchy, it encourages women to mask discomfort, pain, and anger in favor of appearing approachable, agreeable, and attractive, particularly to men. This work rejects that harmful expectation and instead offers an honest visual commentary on the emotional toll of people-pleasing and performative happiness.

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In the photograph, Karina does not smile. Her expression is direct; not angry, but visibly disappointed. Her gaze meets the viewer’s as if asking, “Why do I need to smile more?” Her refusal to perform happiness becomes an act of defiance against the cultural conditioning that demands constant pleasantness from women. Rather than participating in the illusion, she confronts it head-on, exposing the exhaustion and insincerity that comes with the pressure to constantly meet society’s expectations.

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Surrounding Karina are smiling balloons, exaggerated and artificial, symbolizing the culture of performative joy that permeates not only real-life interactions but also through social media. These balloons represent the false cheerfulness women are often expected to uphold in order to be accepted, liked, or loved. ​

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This work challenges this narrative and offers an alternative message for future generations: you don’t owe anyone a smile. The artwork tells women that it’s okay to show their full selves, not just the polished, palatable version that society prefers. Through Karina’s role in the image, the piece becomes an empowering act of refusal, a statement that emotional honesty is more valuable than forced perfection. 

Sonríe Más.jpg

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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