Sucia Scholars, an idea that quickly evolved into pedagogy, ideology, and a brand, is an extension of Anzaldúan theory, Lordean Rage, and Muxerista pedagogical approaches. as a concept, sucia scholars was developed out of a dire need to reclaim power surrendered as payment for academic attainment, namely, grad school and as a means for generating money to self-fund my research (it still is).

with this in mind, my first designs were memes that bridged pop cuture images with aspects of academic culture that were otherwise difficult to distill. these memes were presented at the 2022 national association of chicana and chicano studies conference as part of a discussion on a concept i co-coined as academic puteria, or academic whoring. folks really seemed to connect well with the imagery and message coded into the memes which empowered me to begin designing images plucked from my own mental depictions of academic life.

Later that same year, I began co-designing a chapbook on queering friendship, presented mid-year at the 2022 MALCS Summer Institute, the copies of which sold out. energized by the community’s embrace of my art, i began designing logos and other prototypes to brand my scholarship and that of my collaborations with fellow scholars. credit is owed to a colleague who introduced me to canva and adobe illustrator and showed me the ropes.

Today, I create renderings inspired by the mental images contained in my thought bubbles using an array of Adobe products and canva. bringing aspects of my spiritmindbodyspirit into physical form is a rare gift that has provided me with a medium for creative agency, financial autonomy, and default ownership-authority over my original ideas, creative works, voice, and image.