Irving Monroy's Artist Statement

Irving’s Creative Statement

My name is Irving Monroy, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York with El Salvadoran roots. Yes, I am a Hispanic male with the name Irving, very different I know. I was born into a very small immediate family of just my mother, father, and me. However, I have two older half-brothers and sisters on each side of my parents. Being that they never lived with me my entire life and were all older than me, my parents were never able to fully raise them like they did me. I like to say that both of my parents put all their chips on me, because they constantly lectured and taught me to always work harder than the next person. My parents want me to be the most successful sibling out of them all, which is a constant pressure that has always been on me. Therefore, I believe, I am the way I am. My entire life I have always been a hard worker, always working a job, always making my own money, and always trying to be independent. I guess I’m just trying to prove my parents that they bet on the right kid. 

My hard working mentally is what lead me to take on a Computer Science major. Coming into Hunter college I was so sure that I found my major and that I was going to be great at it. I wanted to take on computer science because I knew that’s where the money was, I was great at the subject, and nonetheless my parents were proud of me for pursuing it. However, as time went on in Hunter college I began to rethink my major. I began to realize that I did not want to be stuck in an office coding for the rest of my life. This realization was a long process, but I knew I wanted to which to Media Studies with a concentration in emerging media. I made the switch because I knew that I was more of a creative person more than anything and it worked well with my hard-working mentality. Throughout my years I was always interested in watching movies, making films, creating art, making graphic designs, listening to music, and I constantly came up with ideas for all aspects of media. Now I’m a happier person know that in the future I will be doing something that makes me happy and not working a job where the only people I’ll be making happy are my parents. With, I have hope that this class will expand my knowledge and creativity.