A blazing early spring sun arcs over San Jose Day at Emma Prusch Farm Park. Dancers and cultural performers take the stage, while classic American cars stand on the bare earth and DJs fill the air with music. Next to the stage, a crowd gathers around to see an artist’s creative process in action. Moved by darker themes and unseen forces, Itzayana Silva paints with quiet intensity, bringing life to her canvas. Itzayana Silva is a 27-year-old Xicana painter, cultural organizer, and aspiring tattoo artist based in San Jose and Gilroy. She uses her art not only to amplify cultural and societal issues, but also as a method to heal, understand, and express herself. Her main focus, however, is collaboration and giving back to her community.

Her creative spark was ignited while she visited her grandmother in Mexico, watching her crochet and paint. Her grandmother always encouraged Itzayana to join in. “She gave me the brush and would do the outlines for me, and then I would paint them in,” Itzayana recalled. Not long after her return to California, her mother began to introduce her to other ways of expressing creativity. “Around when my grandmother was showing me how to paint, my mom put me in Folklórico, a Mexican folkloric dance group, and that was around elementary school.”

In high school, ceramics, dance, and drawing became the focus of Itzayana’s life. As she matured, her art began to take on much darker tones, reflecting the emotional turbulence she was experiencing. “I was drawing a little bit more darker things during that time, just because there was so much change going on, like in myself and then like, [in] other people,” said Itzayana. “So, I was trying to find different outlets to express different heartbreaks that I would see or experience, or even sexual assaults and other traumatic experiences.”

After graduating high school, Itzayana worked in the medical field with plans to study culinary arts. Shortly thereafter, disaster struck and derailed her plans, shifting her path forever. “I think I was 19 or 20 when I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I was having seizures and of course, my hand was too shaky,” said Itzayana. “So I was using painting and drawing as a way to stabilize my hand.”

“I would paint these figures that I would see… They had shown me more of a medicinal way into my culture.”

Life for Itzayana became about working hard, saving up, and seeking medical treatment outside of the US. While seeking treatment in Mexico, she began experiencing visions of shadowy figures that she calls “dark entities.” Instead of fearing them, Itzayana embraced their presence. “I would paint these figures that I would see. It was like shadows or just different creatures, but I think that also helped me be a little bit more comfortable with the darker side,” said Itzayana. “They had shown me more of a medicinal way into my culture. They would show me different deities.” She weaves many of the symbols and insights she received into her acrylic work. In her 2022 painting Tlazoltéotl, she portrays the goddess’s feminine power, weaving in symbols of Mother Nature and culturally-rooted mystical animals. Through this piece, she explored the guidance of dark entities and began to release lingering shame.

In her newer piece, Dulce Muerte, renditions of the Deer Spirit, symbolizing a softer and kinder natural spirit; a skull, representing death; and mushrooms, a symbol of life emerging from death, all appear together. Her works have been included in art exhibitions from Hollister to Fox Tale Fermentation Project in San Jose, and audiences from all over have come to see her pieces. To her surprise, viewers embraced her dark-themed art with overwhelming positivity. It became clear to Itzayana that her path forward would be illuminated by the darkness.

She formed an alliance with others at a survivor support group called Silently Loud Collective, which gave her a sense of community and a new direction for her art. Joey and Jade Castaneda, along with the rest of the Gilroy-based collective, Shades of Brown Alliance (SOBA), welcomed her, and the group secured a mural commission at a Santa Clara County family facility in Gilroy, giving Itzayana a chance to serve the medical community she’s deeply committed to, this time through art. Connections with others who experienced the same life-changing traumas and who have similar goals helped her forge strong bonds within the community. With the guidance and support of strong mentors, such as Carlos Rodriguez, Wisper from the TWC crew, and Elba Raquel, Itzayana travels forward on the path to becoming a pillar of cultural, medical, and communal support.

Itzayana’s journey from a timid solo artist to a confident presence in the public art scene has deepened her self-understanding and empowered her to help others find their own creative paths. “We’re both feeling like this,” she says of others who feel timid too, “but we can do this together.”

Instagram: infrared.rose

Artwork:
1. 12
2. Memorias
3. Tlazolteotl