Jester Bulnes

Jester Bulnes is a fourth-year Fine Art major and Chicana and Chicano Studies minor. Their work and practice is rooted in duality, parallels, and the in-between as a framework for engaging with materiality to challenge preconceived notions of identity and expand the possibilities to see things beyond a western-colonial binary. They are interested in the intersection of performance, fashion, and art and indulge in critical readings that engage race and ethnicity in performance. They wish to highlight the work of Kemi Adeyemi, Jillian Hernandez, José Munoz, and their
faculty mentor, Uri McMillan, as these scholars have assembled a foundation for Bulnes to traverse. Their current research explores artists’ relationships to materiality, with specific interest in Latinx and queer artists, to understand how specific materials have gained cultural meaning and function as specific codes and signifiers for queerness, race, gender, and class. They wish to continue to engage with both research and theory beyond their time at UCLA and are interested in pursuing a Master’s Degree in Art in the future.