Hello, 

My name is Liz Gonzalez, also known as ZELAZNOGZIL, which is just my name spelled backwards.

I'm a Mexican American Latina artist from Kansas City, MO, raised between KC and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. My art is all about sharing our culture and bringing communities together.

Growing up, I never thought art could be my thing. I moved around a lot and went through some hardships, and for a long time I struggled with depression and ADHD and honestly gave up on having any kind of future. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that some mentors who believed in me showed me art could actually be a career.

In 2016 I started volunteering at the Mattie Rhodes Center, and that really turned my life around. Being around that environment and devoting myself to helping my community gave me a sense of purpose I'd been missing. That's what I want my art to do too, share the culture, just create, and really live.

My grandmother, María del Refugio, or Cuca as we called her, que en paz descanse, taught me about life and art when I was little, growing up in Juárez. When I moved back to the States as a first gen, a lot of responsibility fell on me, but her lessons stayed with me, and they live on in everything I make.