Raised by the women from her mother’s side of the family while growing up in her father’s muffler shop, Jazmin Delgado was fully immersed in Latinidad’s nuanced gender spectrum. Before she even had the language to verbalize this experience, she used art to express this duality.

Fiera is the creative expression of this experience. Using art, fashion, and the knowledge from her father’s handiwork as a mechanic– his ability to create something from little to nothing– Delgado upcycles material ranging from soft fabricates, to metal chains, and even corona boxes to create one-of-one Mercado bags and clothing.

Fiera ultimately represents the space between the hypermasculine and feminine of Delgado’s life as a queer Latina from Chicago. In Spanish, the word “fiera” literally translates into fierce or wild, often used for animals that can’t be tamed. Delgado plays with this word by switching out the masculine “-o” with the feminine “-a” to describe a fierce and tenacious queer experience that the patriarchy tries (and fails) to suppress.