- Being a self-taught artist, printmaking was a very accessible medium.

I could just work at it at home starting in a smaller scale, but the painting started last year when I really wanted to take my practice a little further.

Hi, my name is Janera and I am a visual artist.

Every piece starts with a drawing.

I carve out a linoleum block.

I transfer the image that I drew on paper to the block, and then that's when I go in with ink and I use my scissors.

I cut out the image that I printed, and so I end up with all these little pieces, both mediums that I'm using.

Even though they're different.

They work really well together.

I also like to create new forms.

This is the iris, but it's repeated over and over again to kind of make a star.

I moved to Tennessee when I was 10 or 11, which was quite a shock.

Coming from such a small little island in the Caribbean.

When I visit my home in Puerto Rico, the colors are so dramatic and so are the people that live there.

I like to bring that into my work and also mix it with my Tennessee experience where I feel like it's actually very similar.

I like to involve these two identities that I live in, merging these botanicals from Puerto Rico, but also from the south, and creating a new world where both cohabitate in a very beautiful and lush environment and like everybody's thriving.

That's what I want people to experience, to contribute, to creating this world that I've made up in my head.

I think it's just sharing resources and sharing knowledge.

Because I chose to be self-taught, I feel like arts should be very accessible.

My role as an artist is to also share what I've learned.