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Artist: Ariana R-G (Washington, DC)
Sales for this work are handled by Pulp Stiction. Payment is made through this page.
Year: 2026 | Medium: Recycled cardboard, newspaper, magazine, marker, and acrylic paint on canvas | Dimensions: 13x12x2.25 inches | Display: Wall-hung (2D)
Artist Statement
This piece confronts the transformation of the Washington Post under Jeff Bezos, channeling my outrage at witnessing the erosion of a vital institution. When I grew up in the DC area as a journalism student, the Post represented the gold standard of reporting. It was proof that the press could hold power accountable and uphold democratic ideals.
Over his tenure as owner, Bezos has battered the newspaper until it broke open. The series of buyouts and layoffs was devastating: entire coverage areas eliminated, dedicated journalists forced out, and critical voices silenced by a billionaire’s unchecked whims.
To capture the brutality and spectacle of this unraveling, I chose the form of a piñata, an object meant for joyful breaking, here transformed into a symbol of loss and anger.
Collage becomes my tool of resistance: an act of destruction and creation at once. I tore pages of the Post into strips, echoing the dismantling of the newspaper, then rebuilt those fragments into something new. The Post’s own words, reassembled into a hollow piñata, become evidence of its undoing. The pieces build a fragile shell meant to shatter. In doing so, the collage documents exactly where we stand: at the breaking point.
What spills from the piñata’s broken center is not abundance, but decoration that masks extraction and loss. The illusion of festivity underscores the reality of what’s been taken.
Titled "Democracy Dies …", this piece refuses to let this direct hit to the free press, essential to democracy, pass in silence.
About the Artist
Ariana (she/they) is a queer Latine mixed-media artist who channels her family’s textile traditions and the vibrant colors and textures of her Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage into her work. Their process reflects immigrant ingenuity , creating with found materials and finding beauty in the discarded as they construct work using magazine clippings, fabric, paint, beadwork, cardboard, and embroidery. Her art is a convergence of these influences: layered, complex, alive. Ariana has shown work at exhibitions in DC, Maryland, and Maine, and teaches collage workshops across the DC region.
www.arianarg.com/shop
Pulp Stiction: Collage as an Act of Resistance. Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU, Oct 26 to Dec 11, 2026.
Artist: Ariana R-G (Washington, DC)
Sales for this work are handled by Pulp Stiction. Payment is made through this page.
Year: 2026 | Medium: Recycled cardboard, newspaper, magazine, marker, and acrylic paint on canvas | Dimensions: 13x12x2.25 inches | Display: Wall-hung (2D)
Artist Statement
This piece confronts the transformation of the Washington Post under Jeff Bezos, channeling my outrage at witnessing the erosion of a vital institution. When I grew up in the DC area as a journalism student, the Post represented the gold standard of reporting. It was proof that the press could hold power accountable and uphold democratic ideals.
Over his tenure as owner, Bezos has battered the newspaper until it broke open. The series of buyouts and layoffs was devastating: entire coverage areas eliminated, dedicated journalists forced out, and critical voices silenced by a billionaire’s unchecked whims.
To capture the brutality and spectacle of this unraveling, I chose the form of a piñata, an object meant for joyful breaking, here transformed into a symbol of loss and anger.
Collage becomes my tool of resistance: an act of destruction and creation at once. I tore pages of the Post into strips, echoing the dismantling of the newspaper, then rebuilt those fragments into something new. The Post’s own words, reassembled into a hollow piñata, become evidence of its undoing. The pieces build a fragile shell meant to shatter. In doing so, the collage documents exactly where we stand: at the breaking point.
What spills from the piñata’s broken center is not abundance, but decoration that masks extraction and loss. The illusion of festivity underscores the reality of what’s been taken.
Titled "Democracy Dies …", this piece refuses to let this direct hit to the free press, essential to democracy, pass in silence.
About the Artist
Ariana (she/they) is a queer Latine mixed-media artist who channels her family’s textile traditions and the vibrant colors and textures of her Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage into her work. Their process reflects immigrant ingenuity , creating with found materials and finding beauty in the discarded as they construct work using magazine clippings, fabric, paint, beadwork, cardboard, and embroidery. Her art is a convergence of these influences: layered, complex, alive. Ariana has shown work at exhibitions in DC, Maryland, and Maine, and teaches collage workshops across the DC region.
www.arianarg.com/shop
Pulp Stiction: Collage as an Act of Resistance. Hopkins Hall Gallery, OSU, Oct 26 to Dec 11, 2026.