RECOGNIZING THE CYCLES OF ABUSE IN MY HOME, I MADE A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO BE NOTHING LIKE WHAT I SAW. BUT AS I MOVED THROUGH LIFE—FAILED RELATIONSHIPS, STRAINED FRIENDSHIPS—I STARTED TO SEE REFLECTIONS OF MY PAST IN THE WAY I NAVIGATED THEM. I REALIZED THAT THE WAY I HELD PEOPLE AT A DISTANCE, and THE WAY I GUARDED MYSELF WASN’T JUST INSTINCT—IT WAS SURVIVAL. IT WAS A RESPONSE TO THE SUFFERING I HAD ALREADY ENDURED, A WAY TO KEEP MY HEART SAFE FROM MORE. AND THROUGH THAT, I CAME TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING DEEPER: PAIN AND LOVE ARE INSEPARABLE.

MY ONE-LINE DRAWINGS EMBODY THIS COMPLEXITY. THEY REPRESENT GENERATIONAL CURSES NOT JUST AS SOMETHING PASSED THROUGH FAMILY, BUT IN THE WAY WE TREAT EACH OTHER DAILY—HOW A HARDENED HEART IS OFTEN THE RESULT OF MEETING ONLY COLDNESS IN RETURN. MY WORK IS ABOUT THE CONSTANT CHOICE BETWEEN BECOMING THE HURT WE’VE ENDURED OR BREAKING THE PATTERN.

MY NAME REFLECTS THIS DUALITY. SANTANA IS THE PERSON I BUILT TO ESCAPE WHO I WAS, AN IDEA OF MY HIGHEST SELF. YVES IS HIS SHADOW, THE EMBODIMENT OF ANGER, TEMPTATION, AND THE WEIGHT OF EVERYTHING I COULD BECOME IF I LET MYSELF SLIP. ONE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER—JUST AS LOVE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT LOSS, AND LIGHT CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT DARK. MY WORK DOES NOT JUST EXPLORE CYCLES; IT EMBODIES THEM.

YVES SANTANA.