Helene Ruiz
History's Disgrace, 2019
Acrylic
12" x 12"
Cages on The Border, 2023
Acrylic
24" x 18"
The works I am submitting for “Terms and Conditions” speak to the experience of being silenced by systems, by fear, by shame, and sometimes by the very freedoms we are told we have. I paint from a place where words fail, where truth is stifled, and where expression becomes both an act of survival and defiance. Each piece reflects the fragility of voice in a world quick to censor and slow to listen.
These works come from a deeply personal space, of witnessing, remembering, and resisting. To be silenced is not only to lose voice; it is to lose connection, identity, and belonging. Through paint, I reclaim that voice, not as protest alone, but as truth. In a world full of conditions for what can be said, my art speaks for those who no longer can.
- Helene Ruiz