DLD| Adriana Lopez-Ospina |Ep 140

Growing up in the Coachella Valley, Adriana recalls feeling completely alien spending summers in mountainous Columbia with extended family. One of Adriana's favorite places in Columbia is the Museo del Oro. Each visit to the museum brought her closer to her culture and eventually inspired the art she creates today as Pura.

 

In this episode, Adriana shares memories celebrating holidays together with other Columbia families in the valley and the joy and comfort of enjoying their traditional foods together.

 

Adriana left the Coachella Valley for college, seeing there weren’t many opportunities for those who stayed. She attended St. Louis University, where she received a full dose of winter - and is still not over it.

 

After graduating, Adriana was working in sculpture and metal work and was looking to set up her studio. The equipment was pretty expensive, steel was going up in price and after looking at all the costs involved, Adriana decided to take her art in a different direction. She began to reflect on her attraction to metals which found her diving deep into researching gold and it’s connection to her roots. Adriana continues studying her deep ties to Columbia, incorporating gold into her work as the artist, Pura. Adriana loves to create street art but has yet to find a mentor to take her out to create it. She explains why the experience can be intimidating for female artists to do on their own.

 

Adriana was recently stepped into a leadership role with the Wyld Womxn organization – an artist feminist collective in the Coachella Valley.

 

Website- https://www.speakinsmoke.com/

Instagram & Twitter @puraprojects