Nancy Rivera is a visual artist. Her photography has been displayed at The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and others.
Every month, SLUG Style features a distinct and unique member of the community and asks them why they do what they do. Exploring more than just clothing, SLUGStyle is an attempt to feature the people who give Salt Lake City flavor through personality and panache.
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“So I have synesthesia, which is when you hear sounds and then see a certain color in your mind, but also it’s related to letters and words and the type of sounds that they make in your mind,” says Rivera. “I think that’s something that influences a lot the way that I interact with color and a lot of times I feel that I’m very attracted to the colors that I relate to things that I feel strongly about through that synesthetic experience. And maybe for that same reason I really love black because it has such a strong presence.”
Photo: @clancycoop
“I think that seeing an outfit put together makes me feel a certain way, or I see it a certain way in my mind. So I don’t know that I necessarily dress as something, but it’s more influenced by the feelings or things that I relate those colors and shapes to,” says Rivera. Photo: @clancycoop
“I think that for a long time I always just dressed in black, and it was more because I was a teenager and black was cool,” says Rivera. “I now think color is such an important element, and that texture that goes with color, it influences the way that we see color and studying color theory also is something that bleeds into the things that I like, so I definitely mix colors and textures and different things that kind of mix and match.”
Photo: @clancycoop
“I’m part of this portfolio that Amy Jorgensen who runs at the central Granary Art Center in Ephraim,” says Rivera. “It’s a contemporary art gallery in Ephraim. And she put together a portfolio that included 20 contemporary photographers from Utah and each one of us has a print in its portfolio. And so she’s trying to get that out there through exhibitions, interviews, both locally and nationally. So it’s this big project that is kind of starting to take off right now, and we’re still working on that, so that’s a big project that I’m involved in right now.” Photo: @clancycoop
On what inspires her, Rivera says, “music’s huge, but also film and books, really anything that’s in the creative field is something that I really gravitate towards.” Photo: @clancycoop
“I have accepted a position at the Utah Division of Arts and Museums as the Visual Arts Coordinator, so that’s really exciting because it’s directly working and curating exhibitions and meeting artists and managing those programs,” says Rivera. Photo: @clancycoop
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