April S.

April is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, film, textiles, woodworking, drawing, and mixed media. Born and raised in Queens, New York and now based in Florida, she grew up in her family’s furniture shop, where precision, patience, and craftsmanship shaped her eye. Her work has appeared in juried exhibitions, galleries, and print and digital publications, earning recognition from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and other national programs.

Ñawpaq Pacha (“the time before”) is a portrait of my mother in grayscale, holding a mirror that reflects the girl she once was. Only the red Cañari beadwork remains in color, glowing like an ember against erasure. The split face and mirrored child trace our matrilineal line, asking what survives migration, work, and distance. What is sacred to me is our Indigenous memory: her gaze, our earrings, our language, and the quiet certainty that even far away, we remain Cañari.