XOXO AMMO is a signature I use.

My initials are “AMM.” I pronounce it Ah-MO as in love.

I was born in brush country on Gloria Anzaldua’s border. It’s her “el cenote” that I paint in trances. I am a “border artist” because I grew up in the borderlands of South Texas and because my paintings take the border and boundaries as their subject.

My paintings are a protest to the injustice of violence and militarization of the US/Mexican border.

Today, the U.S.-Mexico border is constantly being misrepresented as a place of danger and violence. But to me the borderlands are home. It’s a place of humanity, solidarity, and compassion. Through painting, drawing, video and performance I invite people to contemplate the beauty that exists in a land where people negotiate their place, where people thrive and struggle, and where people resist the idea of unjust borders.