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Ariel Alvarez
My name is Ariel and I am a writer, poet, and eldest daughter. I was raised by a single-mother who worked multiple jobs to support us and who always made sure we knew our knowledge and love was our power. I am a first-generation graduate and cycle maker for my family and for people like me whose experiences reflect my own. I graduated in May 2023 from Texas A&M University – San Antonio with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Creative Arts and Performance. I am an active volunteer for organizations around the city such as Southwest Workers Union, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, and the San Antonio Teachers Alliance and dedicate time to uplift projects to help the San Antonio community. I am deeply passionate about the working class and families and love to advocate for a bright present and future for all of us to thrive in creatively, compassionately and empathetically. I have simultaneously worked in the restaurant industry in San Antonio since I was 17, working as hostess on the Riverwalk to now, working for a Michelin recommended Peruvian cebicheria, Leche de Tigre. I put my heart into everything I do, I feel the only way I can function with an overly caring approach to the world around me. It has been so fruitful in my journey as a human being and I have the deepest hope to create the most beautiful world through my work and my craft.
Resume (PDF)
Work Samples (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Poet
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
I write free-form and visceral poetry and prose. Like many other amazing writers, storytellers, and poets, I mostly write because it is cathartic. It makes sense of the source of feeling and being - from love to grief to death to hope - and all of the experiences in between and yet to be known. I have always been an avid reader and I started writing when I was very young. I found one of my mother’s journals and I read her writing, it let me into her inner world, her dreams, and her hopes for not only herself but for us as her children. I realized then how deeply powerful writing is and how it connected the thread of our souls of the things we may have not said or understood if we spoke them at the time. I am newer to sharing my writing but when I have read to my friends or audiences, they say they can feel it and that’s all I had ever hoped when the day come that someone were to see it. My writing ranges from many subjects but with an emphasis on my experiences as a queer, Mexican working class woman in San Antonio. I am inspired by my life as a young woman navigating friendship, romance, politics, chaos, community and beauty. Like many in our community, intersection is the basis of my livelihood and shaped my perspectives. As much as we may suffer in boxes placed around us, we also have the opportunity to grow wisdom and strength that only comes from what we know and have been through. Writing and sharing my works inspires me to break out of the circumstances that once seemed binding and make sure that people know they are not alone on that path of self-discovery and joy.