ARTIST STATEMENT

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CRUSH! is my contemporary mythology that explores dating apps through my lens as a single woman over 40. I reclaim the phrase “over 40 and frisky,” once used as a teenage joke, to spotlight the real and often overlooked experiences of women like me navigating love, desire, and digital romance.

Each archetype in this work is drawn from my own encounters. The word “crush” holds a double meaning—both the excitement of new attraction and the heartbreak that can follow. Through this series, I explore what it means to live in nepantla, a Nahua word meaning “in the middle of things”—between hope and disappointment, connection and solitude.

Isis Rodriguez