Mia Ferraro
They/Them
New Paltz, NY
I am a metalworker and am currently a junior at SUNY New Paltz, obtaining my BFA in Metal. My work has been exhibited in Queerphoria Vol. 5 at NYCJW 2025 and at Acquired Tastes at the DRAW gallery in Kingston, NY.
“My work explores how objects uphold a hierarchy of memory and how this symbiotic relationship between object and history defines an heirloom. I center identity in my work through representational imagery or objects that directly correlate to the memorialized, in order to question what deserves to be remembered. I am interested in exploring how the wearability of objects allows us to become advertisements for our memories and use them as cultural currency, using the beauty of jewelry to attract interest and give us power.”
@4rtby_mia
How does your creative practice reflect your experience of living and making as a BIPOC and/or 2SLGBTQIA+ maker?
“Much of the jewelry passed down in my family withstood dictatorships, trips across borders, to wedding altars and back again, births, and deaths, and every mundane day in between. It is this ability that jewelry has to hold memory and withstand the test of time that makes me feel productive making it. In a world where I am threatened, not protected, by policy due to my gender and sexuality, jewelry grounds me again. My art will outlive me and those who hate me simply due to the nature of my material. Everytime I sit at my desk I create something that will remember my hands long after they decay. My art remembers my touch and it is in this act of preservation of memory where I advocate for my right to not merely exist, but live, and ensure that I cannot be erased with time.”
"Heirloom", Enamel, copper, steel pin wire, 7 in by 3 in, 2026What techniques, stories, or materials have been passed down to you, and how are you reimagining them in the present?
“My mother used to tell me that "love won't pay your bills" whenever the topic of romance came up and I understood this to mean that romance will not whisk you away from your reality. As I got older though, I understood that this ideology has the ability to leave me lonely. So love will not pay my rent, but it will fill my cup. I watched my mother balance being a mother, wife, teacher, and friend, seeing the beauty of her boundaries and bountiful generosity. Daily, she teaches me that there is no one facet of personhood, and in this tumultuous climate where I sit as an artist watching wars unfold on my cell phone, I constantly wonder if what I do is enough. Yet, I see the way my mother changes her world, no matter how small, with her love, and it is this action of loving that is the push forward. Love to her is a material used to change everything around her and without it, the hope does not shine as bright. So again, love will not pay my bills, but it will make my life worth living and reinvent me into someone better.”
How does your work honor those who came before you while forging new pathways for the future?
“No one in my family before myself was an artist, especially not any of the women in my family. I mark a turn in our lineage, a turn that my parent's love, care, and financial literacy have facilitated, where I am able to explore a career in what I love, not what I need. I recognize the privilege and pure luck that my life now is about exploration, not just about survival. I feel exhilarated at the knowledge that generations before me have fought to get future generations to this point where I can breathe deeply. Therefore, to honor them I must keep making. Art has always been a source of rebellion and I plan on being the most rambunctious in a gallery, encouraging others to raise their voices and make space for themselves. After all, if we do not make sure we take advantage of this freedom, what was it all for?”
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, research, etc.
“My grandmother was a Cuban immigrant who was kind, loving, and deserved to have her portrait made up a long time ago. I am very grateful to have the chance to do it now. the crown on the head of my piece, says
"Give me your tired, Your poor, your huddled masses" which is a quote from the Statue of liberty.”
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist