Meet Matéo Penado | Artist & Organizer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matéo Penado and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matéo, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m born and raised from Gainesville, Georgia and my parents are both immigrants. My mother is Mexican while my father is Salvadorian. I grew up mostly around my Salvadorian side of the family and heavily entrenched in the local Latinx community. I practically spent my entire childhood on Atlanta Highway and visiting the Pendergrass Fleamarket on the weekends. Almost all of my aunts and uncles have worked at least once, in their life, in poultry factories, and I’ve grown up kind of seeing everyone around me, in my family and in my community, have this extreme work ethic that I definitely adopted myself. But it’s not just the work ethic, it’s the family and community values that were stressed to me early on. I feel like art especially, while it can be individualistic, it’s not possible to be entirely solitary, by yourself. Even if you make art by yourself and never share it with someone, whatever inspires you and the people you draw from stylistically or idea wise, there’s community to be found in even that. So it’s things like seeing my aunts and uncles help take care of other cousins and family members, and the intergenerational love and care that really motivated me to start volunteering and doing some organizing, and has even impacted my own art practice. Over the years I’ve gone from just making individualistic vent art about my identity and experiences to getting more involved in art activism and communal practices and events.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I first started drawing and working on art, it was mainly meant as a form to vent, and to vent specifically about my gender and sexuality, and mental health issues. So it really began as therapy at first. Because I was a teenager and still really not sure about my identity and didn’t want my work to out me, I tended to cover a lot of things in symbolism and elaborate compositions with multiple things and mixing whatever media I could get my hands on. Since coming out, my art has shifted to focus more on community and engaging with others, whether that be through arte util, or a practical art activism that directly helps people through workshops, tabling, or making educational art, or making something that activates the political within someone and motivates them to do something. (I wrote a paper early on in university about arte util and the concept and utilization of different forms of art activism, and it radically changed my thought process and how I go about my own practice.) It definitely helped that I am studying art at university, and I quickly took every opportunity I could to learn and work on my technical skills but also to engage with others, create valuable connections, and learn from others outside of the university context and not just from my own local town but also from greater North Georgia. Slowly over time, although I do alot of mixed media work, I have focused more so on printmaking, digital art, and painting. It was not easy at first, to put myself out there, applying to shows and events, and be so vulnerable openly and constantly, especially because I do have social anxiety, but I used the “fake it till you make it” approach with my confidence and I was just so dead set and stubborn about my goals and achieving them, that eventually it worked. I do still struggle with it sometimes and imposter syndrome, but it helps to remember that there is only one me out there, and while there’s definitely people out there similar to me, they don’t carry the exact same experiences, thoughts, or ideas as me. But I also would not be me, without the help of others! That took me a while to understand, but I’ve worked on that and now it’s easier to reach out for help and ask questions! On the other hand, this past year especially, I’ve also tried to work on just letting go, because I did get caught up in making my art always “mean something”, that I forgot how I initially started doing art to have joy for myself, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to learn my friends and others still enjoy seeing my wonky doodles and the weird animations I make in my spare time to goof off. All in all, I hope to continue making art that enables joy, whether that be in the process of it, inspiring it in one person, or enabling that one pushes themself to action to create that joy for someone else later on.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh! If my best friend was visiting Gainesville I’d immediately show them to Atlanta Highway. There’s one Salvadorian restaurant on the street that has the best papusas in town and it also has a bakery. The people are so nice and they even sell stuff that’s imported from the country, and it’s set up like a store in El Salvador. There’s a couple of different parks I’d love to walk through or have picnics in. From the ones in town, Wilshire is a classic, but there’s also a few slightly hidden away spots to access Lake Lanier like at the back of the Carrington apartments that are nice to sit at. Laurel Park is a nice park if people have kids since they’ve got that tiny water park, but Don Carter state park is also really nice and they’ve got a trail! There’s a few botanicals in town but I think it’d be better to go to the Pendergrass Flea Market and snag some crystals and candles there, and they also have fresh fruit and veggie vendors outside always! And then of course there’s the actual botanical garden in Gainesville(although truthfully I do prefer the Atlanta one more).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to shoutout my family! Both my blood and chosen family have helped and supported me so so much, from aiding me on my own trans journey to my artistic one as well. I genuinely would not have been able to have had top surgery without them, and the immense care and support I have from my family. This includes my bio fam like my mother and sisters, but also my chosen family like Beck, Kathy, Noor, Arturo, Aida, Juleah, Jose, and so so many more people that I feel horrible I can’t name them all but they deserve flowers and so much more! These folks in their own way have also supported me throughout all my crazy ideas and have spoken my name in rooms, and that is such an immense blessing to have someone that thinks of you in that regard and I couldn’t be more thankful and appreciative, because these folks not only support me in the way of being there to listen and give advice, but also that teach me things and allow for growth alongside each other and I just hold so much love for the angels in my life!!

Website: https://matthewpenado.wixsite.com/portfolio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transrebelde/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-penado/

Other: https://portfolio.adobe.com/2ab730b0-c57e-49d9-a275-f60bc30c318e/preview/work