Kaya Conversations: Selena Velasco

There is an intuitive element to every migration story, one that extends far beyond statistical data and economic potential. Experience how poet Selena Velasco charters the depths of her own ancestry through poems of resilience and self-preservation.

A visual art piece and poem by Selena.

By Kristen Navaluna

As we continue to countdown the days until Kalinawan, Arts + Open Mic, we would like to introduce one of our visual artists and poets, Selena Velasco! Being a dedicated community leader and Chamorrita mother, Selena gives us insight into how creative expression helps to heal and decolonize the mind and body. Read our interview with Selena as she poetically honors her past, present, and future.

What is your diaspora story?

I come from beautiful palm trees and humid ocean breeze. I am a product of the U.S. militarization and colonization of Guahan. Both my parents were resilient seeds that sprouted from Guahan’s rich land and my ancestry, leaving to support their beloved families and find opportunities for growth. They both met outside the island, in the U.S. military. Later sprouted my sisters and I as they traveled through many places, such as Germany, Japan, Georgia, Guam, and then planted new roots here in Washington state. We were, and continue to be, oceans apart from Guahan’s soil, yet my parents and elders planted a seed of resilience, so that I am still connected to my ancestral, Chamoru roots no matter where I am.

How did you get started in your art?

I believe my art, my poetry, has been influenced by years of storytelling from the matriarchs in my life. My mother, aunties, and grandmother told me stories of their Chamoru youth and womanhood by teaching traditions through song, prayer and dance. My form of storytelling has always been poetry. I took their teachings and transcribed them into my writing with deep connection to my ancestry. I have shared my poetry through social media, workshops and youth groups. This will be the first time I have showcased my poetry openly, as visual art, to share with a beautiful community.

Selena Velasco is a proud Chamorrita, mother of color, feminist, community organizer, youth advocate and activist. Her passions include intersectional feminism, gender, and racial justice. As a creative and enthusiastic critical thinker, she is powerfully involved in transforming healing from health inequities, intergenerational trauma and systemic forms of violence in Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

What inspires you to create your art?

Writing poetry is tied so intimately to my self-care, self-preservation, and reclamation of my indigenous identity as a Chamorrita mother. Poetry continues to be a resiliency tool for my healing. Healing from historic, intergenerational trauma, the trauma of colonization and the militarized zones that inflicted my body, my people and our land. My poetry is the land I come from, the deep roots of banyan trees. It is the seed of life I created in my son. My poetry is how I remember, how I reconnect to my ancestry, to my body, through storytelling.

My poetry focuses on my bodily autonomy. My artwork honors my ancestors and honors my body that is a product of their survival. Through poetry, I continue to build strength from their resilience.

My child has also inspired my art. He has had a profound impact on my social justice activism and community organizing. I want to create a safe space for him to find healing through creative expression. By reclaiming my indigenous, Chamoru identity, culture, and language through poetry, I know he will have a powerful foundation to remember all he comes from.

Many people believe art is a form of community work or activism, do you feel that way about your own work?

I believe that my poetry is a form of activism. I hope my stories of resistance, identity, ancestry, reclamation of bodily autonomy and my indigenous roots can reach those who too struggle with internalized oppression and help them find healing. I believe that internal healing through radical self-care, love and preservation is activism. Our diasporic stories of longing for reconnection to our lands are deeply interconnected, and I believe that sharing these stories of resistance, resilience and healing is truly activism through art form.

Kalinawan, Arts + Open Mic will be hosted by Kaya Co. Seattle on November 20th at Hillman City Collaboratory.

For more details on this event, visit our event page.

Kristen Navaluna, a graduate of the University of Washington , is the Marketing Communications Manager of Kaya Co. Seattle. She loves watching Project Runway, listening to alternative music, and exploring nature landscapes and creative spaces in her travels.