Gem Abarca is no stranger to 2 a.m. 

Surrounded by the comfort of their bedroom’s four walls, their childhood included staying up into the wee hours of the morning, dedicated to finishing their drawings each night before bed. 

From sixth grade to late high school, Abarca found solace in sketching for hours at a time, perfecting what was once a hobby. 

That nightly routine would soon transform into their life’s passion. 

Abarca, an honors student studying art with an emphasis in 3D and extended media at the University of Arizona, plans to graduate this May. With an unorthodox upbringing and a burning desire to create, Abarca is a successful artist and plans to continue their work after leaving the UA. 

Today, they show work around the United States and have also been the first artist to receive spots in research programs at UA.

Defying odds

Chasing a dream in professional arts means networking and self advocacy. And Abarca said they have taken advantage of every opportunity.

“I have my work right now on display in Texas in a national juried exhibition,” they said, referring to the 59th Annual CAIN National Art show.

Receiving the Arizona Artist Guild Award, showing work in Yuma and Mexico, collaborating with graduate students in other departments and earning multiple scholarships are testaments to their dedication and perseverance. 

One of their proudest accomplishments was becoming the first artist to be accepted into the Ronald E. McNair Undergraduate Research Program at the UA, they said. 

“The program is usually meant for people pursuing Ph.D.s in STEM and the medical field,” they said. “That’s a national accomplishment – it was a challenge making the program work for me, but I did it.”

Seeking out these opportunities and staying curious makes Abarca stand out, said Alejandro Macias, an assistant professor with the School of Art . 

“Even though they’re not technically enrolled in my class, I’m giving them advice in terms of how to go beyond the classroom, looking for residencies, looking for shows that they possibly could fit for, thinking about graduate school,” he said. “I think it’s a matter of time before Gem is accepted into a really good program.”

And Abarca’s caring nature inspires them to recommend opportunities to others, said Mel Serrano, a fellow art major at the university. 

“They’ve recommended opportunities to me and other people around me,” they said. “They’re just always involved with things that relate to themselves, but also just everybody around them.”

Finding art in the university 

Artistic studies were not always in the picture for Abarca. But after an uninspiring try at engineering, they decided to focus on their passion, they said.

“I started off in engineering and then realized, if I’m going to get my four years paid for based off of my own scholarships, then I should just go for pursuing my passion,” they said. “Instead of having to be creative inside of the box that engineering and STEM puts for you, I got to make my own box.”

The box they’ve created centers around society– its flaws, its history and our place within it.

On display now at the Cain Gallery in Corpus Christi, Texas, their work “in the hands of who” explores a critical perspective of the invention of the letterpress.

Through ink on paper and a looped video projected on the gallery walls, they examine the role of the letter press in the mass dissemination of ideas.

Their work, driven by personal experience, manifests into an emotional call to action for others to see and reflect on their art, they said. 

“Usually, I think it starts with a feeling of pain, anger or discomfort. Then having a reflective period where I’m thinking about, ‘Where is this feeling coming from? Why am I feeling it?’”  they said. “Most of my work is based on my ethnic identity, gender identity or my relationship to nature or man’s relationship to nature.”

In turn, they said their work allows them to both connect with and relate to others. 

Serrano added that Abarca’s work exemplifies how much they care for their community. 

“The artwork that they’ve made is based on their identity as a Mexican-American trans person,” Serrano said. “Especially, the issues that a lot of Mexican-American people deal with – how to label themselves, what they should and should not identify with based on society.”

Macias said he resonated with Abarca’s work because of the artist’s skill and because they come from similar backgrounds. 

“They’re just a deep thinker. They have a lot of technical proficiency in terms of executing their ideas, but I think Gem’s work goes beyond just the surface,” he said. “A lot of it is rooted in Chicanx identity. I think being in tune with that kind of implies you’re thinking critically about where you belong in this world. It’s something that I really tend to relate to in many ways.”

An escape from reality

Abarca grew up in Phoenix. 

“Phoenix, Phoenix, like 43rd Ave. and Bethany Home, Phoenix. Right on the border of Glendale, Phoenix. Not Scottsdale or, you know, any other city that people say, but Phoenix,” they said.

As the only child in a family with rigid religious practices, Abarca said art was an escape from reality.

“I grew up with Jehovah’s Witnesses, and so things were just really restrictive for me growing up. We would go door-to-door, walking, preaching. And I would go both days of the weekend, Saturday and Sunday,” they said. 

But Abarca just wanted to sketch on the weekends, they said. Art provided a creative outlet, and also helped them to think critically about the world around them, they said.

Within the strict confines of their family, however, Abarca said they lacked support for their work. 

“I remember [my mother] telling me the one compliment she gave me,” Abarca said. 

Buying art supplies one day with their mom, Abarca expected to pay for it themself, knowing their mom didn’t approve of their art and saw it as pulling Abarca away from their religion. 

Instead, their mom paid. “Well, you’re pretty good at it,” she told them.

“There are times with my family, even, that they’ll say something, and they’ll say it in a kind of snarky way. But if I think about it, I try to turn it into something good,” they said. “So if the criticism has validity to it, then I’ll accept it and I’ll implement it into my work.”

In college, Abarca found the freedom in Tucson they did not have at home. Where their parents withheld support, Abarca found at the School of Art provided it, they said. 

“At the School of Art, I was free to pursue whatever ideas I wanted,” they said. “Tucson is just out of the way enough that you’re not going to get your family visiting every weekend.”

An artist in process

Abarca’s work reflects contemporary themes, diving into women’s rights, Chicanx identities and problematic societal structures. Macias said their work is important and takes bravery to put out to the public. 

“What’s good about Gem’s work is also how not only timely it is but how responsive they are to contemporary issues and the social political climate,” he said. “I think that sort of thing takes a lot of courage to be able to respond to something that is affecting us now as we speak.”

And Abarca said everything, down to the medium of their work, is significant. 

They specialize in organic material, meaning they create with  “anything that is organic, anything that comes from the natural world,” from visuals to performance art, they said. 

This focus on organic materials relates to their pantheistic beliefs and deep reverence for nature, they said. 

“The world just feels alive,” Abarca said. “I feel like I’m always walking beside a sentient being and so working with organic materials becomes a spiritual practice.”

In their latest work and senior thesis, “Deceiving Illusive Flight,” Abarca curated an experience in which their art is both immersive and interactive.

“It’ll involve coding, performance, and projections and video, but I won’t be the one performing,” they said. “Typically, I’m the one that’s performing if it’s a performative piece, but this one is going to be in the hands of the audience.”

The installation, involving a kinetic sculpture, will put audiences in a bystander position as different scenes play. Following themes of economic, governmental and political issues in the United States, Abarca’s thesis challenges societal constructs of living, they said. 

“The piece is on renewal – it’s on allowing ourselves to find alternative ways to live,” they said, adding that it is meant to encourage people to find alternatives to capitalism.

Looking ahead

As Abarca wraps up their undergraduate years at UA, they look forward to the future. Today, they are eagerly anticipating an acceptance from their first artistic residency application. 

More immediately, they said finding community is crucial as they temporarily move back to Phoenix post graduation. 

“I’ll be entering a brief period of rest – but it’ll be intentional rest,” they said. “Ever since coming to Tucson, I’ve felt really disconnected from my Mexican culture.”

They are hoping to ignite a new creativity through a cultural deep dive. 

“I’m going to be visiting the places that I took for granted when I was young, of going to butcher shops and walking through those kind of dingy linoleum floors where canned goods are stacked up,” they said. “That’s where my culture is.”

With a newfound appreciation for their Mexican heritage, they said they hope a new artistic perspective will surface.

“I know that work will emerge from there and maybe it’ll take a shift, too – maybe instead of it coming from a place of discomfort, it’ll come from a place of appreciation instead,” they said. 

When looking back on their journey, Abarca said their personal challenges are “going to leave those wounds there for a while.”

But these wounds do not define them as a person, they said.

“I would tell my younger self that you are enough– just believe in yourself,” they said. “You have good ideas and you are talented.”