Luz del Carmen Serreli was born in Cd. Juárez Chih. Mexico in 1979, the daughter of a Mexican mother and an Italian father.
From a very young age, she was influenced by art since her Italian grandmother was an art collector. She remembers her grandmother's house, “la Nonna,” as if it were a museum, full of antiques and works of art.
She graduated as an architect from the University of Monterrey, UDEM, in December 2001.
In 2016, I took oil, pastel, and charcoal drawing classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio before taking a watercolor course in Cagliari, Italy. In the summer of 2020, during the pandemic, she was taking online courses at the New York Academy of Art.
In the summer of 2021, she was accepted into the summer program of said academy, SURP (Undergraduate Summer Residency Program).
She is the winner of 2 awards in Bari, Italy, 2023: Honorable mention for the exhibition "la luna" and Peace and Solidarity Award, Palace of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Italy, from May 3-14, 2022
She had a previous exhibition in San Antonio, TX airport from September 2022 to 2023, entitled “Flowers for Janeth Sobel”, and in March of 2024, with the exhibition dedicated to women, at the San Antonio airport titled “What is behind”. In August 2025, she obtained her certificate of fine art, CFA, at the New York Academy of Art with the thesis "The Wall" dedicated to the immigrants who cross the border in her hometown, Cd. Juarez Chih. Mexico. @luzserreliart
How has your background informed the themes you explore in your art? I was born in Cd. Juárez, Chih, on the border with El Paso, Texas. My recent artistic project is inspired by the wall that divides this city and the exodus of immigrants who cross it with their families, and how many mothers have to leave their children in Ciudad Juárez to be able to cross and have a better life, hoping to return for their children someday.
When did you first fall in love with art and realize you wanted to be an artist? For you, what is the importance of the arts? I fell in love with art at a very young age. My paternal grandmother was Italian and collected art. Her house was like a museum. I remember a trip to the Vatican when I was 4 years old, observing Michelangelo's Pietà with my mother, and seeing the beauty and the religious meaning, something that stayed with me both in the spiritual part and in the beauty of the piece, I remember thinking that how was it possible that someone could give shape to a simple marble stone, something so wonderful.
What does your typical day in the studio look like? Walk us through your studio and your most used materials and tools. I start my day in the studio, enjoying a cup of coffee. When I work with clay, I begin to mold it, soften it, and feel it in my hands. Suddenly, my hands begin to work on their own, giving life to the clay pieces that, in a few days of work, will be ready to be put into the kiln.
What projects are you at work on at the moment? And what themes or ideas are currently driving your work? I just finished my installation, *The Wall*, in which I talk about immigrants and their journey in this exodus to survive and have a better life. As an immigrant, I have experienced firsthand the meaning of leaving your country, your culture, your food, your family, and friends. Just as my father emigrated from Italy to Mexico many years ago, I remember how I longed for his beautiful city of Cagliari at that time.
What do you hope people feel when they experience your art? What are you trying to express? They could see the reality of our people when they face this caravan of human beings who migrate every day, not only on the border with Mexico and the United States, but on thousands of borders around the world, and not only in this time but throughout history. Our history as citizens of the world.
Which artists, past or present, would you like to meet? And why? As I mentioned before, Michelangelo has been a very important inspiration since I was a child. But not only him, many of the Italian Renaissance artists. Another artist who inspires me is Pablo Picasso, since throughout his years, he radically changed his art style, always exploring new techniques.
His quote: “ Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.”
I always have it written on my board, so when I get lazy or lack inspiration, I remember that I have to work on whatever it is to regain my creativity. Sometimes I just draw or paint flowers, and that helps a lot.
Do you draw inspiration from music, art, or other disciplines? Lately, my inspiration has come a lot from visiting museums and galleries. On my days off, I usually eat at a taco shop near my house and then take the train to a museum. I rotate them. I also like to explore new spaces. This keeps me up to date with current art trends.
A great thing about living in New York is… Today, NYC is the place of art, and here I've met great artists and inspired classmates. I've formed a community based on helping each other, like a chain of favors, that has strengthened us, and personally, I have grown a lot as an artist and as a human being.
Can you describe a project that challenged you creatively or emotionally—and how you worked through it? My thesis is to obtain the CFA at NYAA. It was very ambitious on my part, I wanted to make an installation that would divide the room where it was going to be exhibited, then it occurred to me to make some fragments of "the wall" that divides the United States from Mexico, so I got to work and make the wall bases out of wood, so I went and bought some wooden boards, cut them, glued them and nailed them together to form the bases. Then I painted and bleached them to give them a steel look, similar to the one on the wall. So it was hard work, but in the end, very satisfying and successful.
Sustainability in the art world is an important issue. Can you share a memory or reflection about the beauty and wonder of the natural world? Does being in nature inspire your art or your process? Well, I have had the good fortune of being able to solo art exhibition on several occasions and collective exhibition in different parts of the world, and that has given me the push to continue moving forward with my projects, That someone is interested in inviting me to such events is an honor for me and helps my career grow, inspiring me to be better every day, in my work and in my spirituality, which go hand in hand.
AI is changing everything - the way we see the world, creativity, art, our ideas of beauty and the way we communicate with each other and our imaginations. What are your reflections about AI and technology? What is the importance of human art and handmade creative works over industrialized creative practices? Artificial intelligence is coming on strong, especially with the new generations.
But don't be afraid of it, since our intelligence as human beings is greater, and we ask to use it as a tool to improve day by day.
Exploring ideas, art and the creative process connects me to have empathy with other people who have gone through the same thing as me, such as Immigration and to be able to update other people who have not experienced this immigration, in themselves, to make them aware that we are all human and that it is our duty to help each other, “Man at the service of man”.
