Helena Emerita Gomez

Opening reception: Thursday, April 8th, 2027, 6-9pm

Exhibition dates: April 8th – 16th, 2027

On view gallery hours: Mon- Sun 9am–5pm, and by appointment by contacting hegomez@usc.edu

Roski Graduate Gallery (Los Angeles Arts District) 1262 Palmetto St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Ahora Despierta la Mujer que en Mí Dormía explores the presence of girlhood within womanhood through memory, femininity, spirituality, family, and cultural inheritance. Rooted in the experience of growing up within a Mexican immigrant family, the exhibition reflects on how we learn what it means to be a girl and what is expected of us as women. Through painting, sculpture, ceramics, mirror etching, and installation, the work explores the relationship between the girl we were and the woman we become. Childhood becomes more than a moment in the past; it remains present through memories, traditions, responsibilities, dreams, and expectations carried into adulthood.

The exhibition examines how identity is shaped not only by what is passed down, but also by what is forgotten, interrupted, withheld, or left behind. Family rituals, celebrations, spirituality, imagination, and absence become spaces where belonging is questioned and reimagined. Materials and objects become vessels for memory, allowing cultural histories to surface, fracture, and transform. Ultimately, the exhibition invites us to look to understand who we are now, asking what parts of the girl remain within us, how expectations shape our becoming, and what it means to reclaim pieces of ourselves formed before we could name them.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Helena Emerita Gomez (b. 2004, South Los Angeles) is a first generation Mexican multidisciplinary artist whose work explores girlhood, femininity, memory, spirituality, and cultural identity. Drawing from her experiences growing up in a Mexican immigrant family, her practice examines how family, tradition, and inherited expectations shape identity and the transition from girlhood into womanhood. Working across painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, mirror etching, and installation, Gomez transforms familiar imagery and materials into reflections on nostalgia, absence, belonging, and becoming. Her work considers cultural traditions as living forms that evolve across generations, creating connections between personal memory and collective experience. Through an intimate and material-driven practice, she explores the ways childhood memories, cultural rituals, and familial histories continue to shape the self. Gomez received her Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with a minor in Visual and Performing Arts Education in 2025. Based in Los Angeles, her practice remains rooted in the personal and cultural histories that inform her understanding of identity, womanhood, and belonging.