Practice

Monica Curiel’s work explores how materials and ways of making carry memory, cultural history, and identity. She uses plaster, spackling paste, and other construction materials to create wall reliefs, furniture, lighting, and objects. 

Curiel first encountered these materials while working alongside her father on construction sites. Returning to them in her studio allows her to reconsider the materials and forms of labor that surrounded her growing up, along with the knowledge passed through her family. Through this process, she examines how lived experience has shaped her understanding of who she is and where she comes from as a Mexican American.

Curiel draws from memory, fashion, popular culture, and the objects and environments she encounters. Techniques associated with garment construction, including draping, folding, pleating, and gathering, become methods for shaping construction materials.

Illusion is a recurring strategy in Curiel’s work. Through this approach, construction materials take on qualities of softness and movement, familiar materials feel unfamiliar, and functional objects take on a sculptural presence. These shifts allow her to consider how assumptions influence what is recognized, overlooked, or valued.