ETCHED IN FAITH AND IDENTITY: THE WORK OF IDALY RODRIGUEZ
A first-generation Mexican American artist transforms religious symbolism into deeply personal storytelling.
WRITTEN BY: LEISA WINTER
PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHY / LEISA WINTER - PICTURED / IDALY RODRIGUEZ
Before discovering printmaking, Idaly Rodriguez was simply someone who couldn’t stop creating.
“I was always making things,” she says. “Whatever I could find - I just needed to create.”
A first-generation Mexican American artist based in Fresno, Rodriguez grew up navigating the quiet expectations familiar to many children of immigrant families. Stability and education were priorities, while creative careers often felt uncertain. Though art was always present, it wasn’t until a supportive high school teaching encouraged her that Rodriguez realized being an artist could be more than a hobby.
She committed fully, eventually discovering oil painting in college - a medium she initially found frustrating. Learning during COVID lockdowns meant painting alone on her bedroom floor, waiting days for layers to dry.
“It was annoying,” she laughs. “But I liked the challenge.”
The patience became foundational to her practice. Rodriguez spent much of her undergraduate years completing assignments without a clear personal direction until a breakthrough arrived during her final semester. A surreal circus-inspired painting centered around religious imagery revealed a voice she hadn’t yet accessed.
“I realized I actually had something to say.”
Influenced by horror films and spectacle, her work often balances attraction and unease - inviting viewers in before exposing something darker beneath the surface. These themes culminated in Stations of the Cross, an intaglio print series created through copper plate etching, a centuries-old process historically tied to religious imagery. The labor-intensive method felt intentional.
PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHY / LEISA WINTER - ART / IDALY RODRIGUEZ
“I liked how old the technique is,” Rodriguez explains. “It is connected to the history of religious art.”
The series reflects her upbringing within a traditional Mexican Catholic household, exploring the pressure of performing faith while questioning its expectation. Though she no longer practices formally, Rodriguez describes herself as culturally Catholic, shaped by rituals and symbolism that continue to inform her work.
Creating the fourteen-print series tested her endurance. Midway through production, self doubt set in - until urgency forced her to stop overthinking.
“The last pieces were my favorites,” she says. “I just worked.”
As an artist working in Fresno, Rodriguez navigates a community where bold artwork can spark both connection and discomfort. She embraces both reactions.
“If people feel something,” she says, “then the work did its job.”
Through painting and printmaking, Rodriguez transforms personal experience into shared reflection - proving identity, like an etching, is formed slowly through pressure, persistence, and time.
PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHY / LEISA WINTER BOOK / IDALY RODRIGUEZ
