About
My name is Vicky Cordero and I am an illustrator and sculptor. This is a bit about my origin, background, and the topics that drive my practice. My parents brought me to Chicago from El Salvador when I was 4. I spent my life with the fateful label, immigrant. This label pushed a sense of societal instability throughout my childhood. I made work in response to such instability to ground myself. My paintings and pottery were centered around my perspective on the world as a person who is both Latina and American. Referencing Latin historical events and issues such as Los Desaparesidos, intersectionality in the United States, and the effects of climate change in Latin communities, were inherent in my pieces. Hoping to start conversations about these urgent issues, I became disappointed over the lack of engagement inspired by my work.
Now, I am using a different format for my work to encourage more conversation over the same issues. While maintaining the meaning of my work, I changed its portrayal through the use of the science fiction genre. Discussion is encouraged by involving an escapist mentality through an adventurous story while tackling the same topics. Utilizing illustration, sculpture, and writing, I am actively developing a world called Datura in which the climate crisis has reached the point of driving society out of the surface of the planet and into underground caves sealed away from poisonous air. This is a world that targets issues of intersectionality, a corrupt society, grief, and climate change and can indefinitely expand.