Samera Paz (b. Washington, DC; lives and works in Washington, DC) is a multidisciplinary self-taught visual and performance artist, activist, educator, and community organizer. Her work is inspired by social-political issues, mental health, and her identity as a Black and Colombian woman in today’s modern world. In 2015, Paz founded Girl Power Meetups, a women’s empowerment organization that hosts monthly meetups to empower, educate, and support young women in the DC area. She is active in her community as an organizer who facilitates public meetings and events and is a member of NW4BlackJustice, an activism collective founded by DC natives in the summer of 2020.
Paz has exhibited her work and performed in art exhibitions around the United States. She has been interviewed and published in blogs and media for her art and work, including Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Politico, The Washington Post, Glamour Magazine, and many more.
Artist statement
I consider my art practice to be a documentation of my life's experiences. My introduction to art came at a young age and throughout my life, I turned to art to cope and express myself through difficult times. I've always known art to be truthful, and my goal is to create work that allows me to be my most vulnerable and fearless self. The process of artmaking is just as important to me as the result. Connecting to the work and creating art that resonates with people emotionally and personally are critical to my process.
As a photographer, I am interested in capturing everyday moments and documenting people as they are, wherever they are. Whether it be strangers, friends, family or even myself, I try to connect to subjects and adapt to my environments. My visual art, specifically when I work with menstrual blood, is visually abstract but revolves around social and political issues. The themes of womanhood, race, gender, and identity are common in my art and activism. My performance art is emotionally driven and, at times, trauma based. It involves being completely transparent with my audience to invoke an emotional response and using my body as a medium. From my visual art to performance art, there is a consistent theme of storytelling, documentation, and an expression of emotions. I lean towards creating work that involves interactiveness and intimacy meant to be felt, interpreted, and discussed. There is freedom in sharing personal parts of myself through my art, and ultimately, there is a sense of healing I experience when that artwork is shared with the world.