Daily Inspiration: Meet Dominique Victoria

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominique Victoria.

Dominique, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Since the first interview I did with you guys I’ve graduated from Otis College of Art and Design. Graduating into the pandemic was absolutely a curve ball but I enjoy how much it slowed me down. It’s allowed me to direct my art career in the way I want to see it go instead of any predetermined paths or supposed to’s. I was incredibly lucky to almost immediately begin working with some established Los Angeles based artists as a studio assistant. I’m grateful for the full picture of the art world that work gave me that art school didn’t. For the past year, I’ve been diving into my own work full time and have spent about half the year showing in different galleries, including the Made In California 38th edition at Brea Gallery and this most recent show that closed on December 14th at Dabster Arts Main Street Gallery in DTLA, Bound + Determined. These opportunities have expanded my network of artists, creators, and art lovers in the best way. I’m excited to see what I accomplish in the next year to come.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Getting here most definitely hasn’t been easy. My work comes from deeply researched womanist, queer, and Black histories that merge with my lived experiences. My experience and point of view as not only a Black biracial person but a nonbinary femme has been heavily criticized by the white cis men who control the industry. My work has been characterized as ‘too sexual’ by men who made it clear that they were uncomfortable with who is being sexualized in my work and how. The female body is not for consumption in the work I make, but the white male body is simultaneously anonymized and vulnerable. For me, it works as a subversion to the trope we’ve seen in media, historically and presently, of the female form in the same predicaments. Men have had the audacity for centuries, so it’s been my mission to be just as audacious despite the turmoil it makes for me.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I like to think of myself as a mixed-media painter. Oil painting is a dear skill for me but it’s just never been enough to fully express myself. Mixing it with both embroidery and collage has been a way for me to merge different worlds figuratively and literally. The embroidery has really become a star in the works as I’ve shown them in public. The intricacies of the thread sewn into the canvas surface is difficult to pick up when being viewed from our tiny screens. Showing work publicly has given people the chance to have a texturally enticing experience of these pieces, and it’s by far one of the details of the works that’s been most mentioned to me.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Well, first and foremost, you can support by buying an original work or print. For the first time ever, I’ve made a select group of works available as prints for a limited run. You can find the works and place the order under the prints tab on my website. Secondly, I love artistic collaboration a part of my process is sewing the dresses that I paint in real life and it’s opened me up to collabing with photographers in the past year. I’m hoping to work more with other queer and woman artists in the near future as well. I love the work that can happen from a blending of different creative visions.

Contact Info:

• Website: domvictoria.com
• Instagram: domme_natriix
• Other: domvictoria.com/prints

Image Credits
photos: John Greer (@everything_kills_2.0) Gallery: Dabster Arts Inc