"Hand of Colonialism," a digital storytelling piece by Emilia Rueda, featured in the 8th Annual FBA Film Festival in June 2023.
Honoring Emilia Rueda: Feminist Art, Digital Storytelling, and Legacy
Emilia Rueda, a visual artist in the Department of Art and a student in the Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS) program at New Mexico State University, had her life tragically cut short in the fall of 2022 due to intimate partner violence. Her artistic vision and legacy continue through her work and the community that honors her.
At the 8th Annual Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF) in 2023, Emilia’s digital storytelling piece "Hand of Colonialism," created for her Intro to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course with Dr. M. C. Jonet, was featured. The video explores themes of colonialism and personal identity. In conjunction with the video, Dr. L. Anh Williams, Director of Gender & Sexuality Studies, adapted Emilia's work into a zine titled Introduction, which was also presented at the festival.
Since then, Introduction has been adopted in G&SS courses. In fall 2023, Dr. Cynthia Bejarano, Regents Professor and G&SS faculty member, taught Emilia’s video and zine in her course, marking the first official use of the work as a course text. Dr. Jonet taught the video and zine in Spring 2024 in her Intro to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course, the same course in which Emilia created her video.
Drs. Williams and Jonet are collaborating with NMSU Library’s Special Collections and Archives to preserve Emilia’s video, zine, and related materials as part of a special Feminist Border Arts Zine Collection, ensuring her work remains accessible to future learners and researchers.
In December 2023, Emilia was posthumously awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree. Her brother Joaquin graduated at the same time, with their family present to honor Emilia’s memory, including her father, mother, sister, godmother, favorite aunt, and many more.
We are deeply grateful to the Rueda family for allowing us to share in this journey of remembrance and for supporting our efforts to preserve Emilia’s legacy. We extend our heartfelt thanks to them and her friends for their trust and support in this process. This work is dedicated to them, and to honoring Emilia’s life and memory.
Reflection Questions: "Hand of Colonialism" and the Zine Adaptation
How does "Hand of Colonialism" depict the lasting impacts of colonialism on both personal and collective identity?
How do the clothing choices and other audio & visual details, such as the setting and background objects, contribute to the narrative
What is the significance of making salsa from scratch during the monologue, and how does it express themes of cultural identity, memory, and resistance to colonialism?
How does "Hand of Colonialism" address colorism, and what broader reflections does it offer on divisions and the potential for solidarity within Latinx/Latine communities?
What techniques are employed in the zine adaptation to convey the emotional depth and nuances of "Hand of Colonialism"?
How does Emilia’s choice of language in her “Hand of Colonialism” voiceover shape the narrative? What do her word choices reveal about her reflections? What insights do they offer?
How does the use of color, particularly pink, shape the viewer’s interpretation and emotional response to the story?
In what ways does the shift from video to zine alter the audience’s engagement with and understanding of the narrative?
How does the design and layout of Introduction influence the reader’s engagement, particularly through the use of images, text, and spacing?
How does the zine’s framing device, which shares the basic structure of the assignment Emilia completed and her submission process, invite readers to engage with her work as a collaborative journey? In what ways does this framing offer a sense of agency, even after her passing, and foster a deeper connection between Emilia and the reader?
Social Media Post for FBAFF Event8th Annual FBAFF Dedication
Opening Remarks by Dr. M. C. Jonet
Welcome to the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival and this special screening, "In Memoriam: Emilia Rueda, Digital and Material Storytelling." I'd like to discuss digital storytelling, a method I employ that offers personalized education through project-based learning. Digital storytelling refers to the practice of conveying narratives using digital multimedia elements such as images, audio, and video. It's an immersive method of engaging audiences, breathing life into tales both old and new through the use of technology. Emilia's piece, "Hand of Colonialism," which was assembled and shaped as part of an assignment in my course, "Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies," provides such an example. It leverages rich, multi-sensory expression to weave a narrative that is both deeply personal and relatable, creatively informing and engaging its audience at the same time.
Dr. Laura Anh Williams's zine adaptation, Introduction, capitalizes on the learning environment in which Emilia created her piece by incorporating the assignment she completed into the zine. This not only provides a window into Emilia's creative agency, but also embodies a hybridity of the digital and material. Specifically, her zine reorients elements of Emilia's video to immerse readers into the story, as active participants. Thank you for joining us. I will now pass things along to our next speaker.
Introduction and Emilia's video have been featured and discussed by both Williams and Jonet at numerous academic conferences and presentations:
"Memoir Comics and Zines (panel)," 9th Annual Feminist Border Arts Film Festival and Inaugural Zine Fest, 2024.
“Empowering Voices: Zine-Making for Social Justice Education and Expression,” Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Summer Salon, 2024.
“Borderless Screens: Feminist Border Arts in the Intersection of Media, Scholarship, and Creativity.” Seminario Internacional de Procesos Creativos enArte y Deseño. Universidad Autónomade Ciudad Juarez, 2023.
"A Model of One’s Own: Digital Storytelling and Online Learning." 11th International Digital Storytelling Conference, Washington,D.C., 2023.
We Remember Emilia
Activity: Telling Your Story: Identity, Memory, and Meaning
Digital storytelling is a research and creative practice that uses digital tools to craft personal narratives, blending multimedia elements such as video, images, sound, and text. It often focuses on sharing personal experiences, perspectives, and cultural stories in a way that resonates on both an emotional and intellectual level. Key figures in digital storytelling include Joe Lambert, co-founder of the Center for Digital Storytelling (now StoryCenter), emphasizes storytelling as a method for empowerment and social change.
Background: This activity is inspired by the digital storytelling process Emilia Rueda used in her piece "Hand of Colonialism," which she created for her Intro to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course at NMSU. Emilia integrated "B-roll" footage from a previous project, layered with text and voiceover to craft a personal and reflective narrative. Her work demonstrates how personal experiences and historical contexts could be intertwined through digital media, creating a story that addresses identity, colonialism, and cultural memory.
Objective: This activity guides participants to create a digital storytelling project that introduces themselves through a deep exploration of their identity, experiences, and worldview. Participants will use multimedia elements such as video, audio, text, and images to construct a meaningful narrative.
Materials Needed:
Computer, tablet, or smartphone with video editing software such as:
SparkCamera (mobile app)
Canva (online platform with video editing capabilities)
WeVideo (web-based editing platform)
iMovie (Mac/iOS users)
Adobe Spark (browser-based creative tools)
Smartphone or camera to capture video or images
Microphone (optional) for recording voiceover
Access to personal archives, such as past videos, photos, or sound recordings (optional)
Script or written text to guide your narrative
Internet access to share or upload the final project
Instructions:
Identify Your Core Story:
Reflect on a significant aspect of your life or identity that you wish to share. This can be an experience, a value, a personal challenge, or a defining moment. Think about how this story connects to broader themes in society or culture.
Gather Materials:
Similar to Emilia's approach, draw from existing personal archives such as photos, video clips (B-roll), audio recordings, or past projects. Additionally, you may record new footage or collect visuals that enhance the narrative you are trying to tell.
Develop a Script:
Write a brief narrative that ties together your experiences. This can be spoken as a voiceover, written as on-screen text, or both. The script should clearly explain the story you're telling and the message you want to convey.
Incorporate Multimedia:
Combine your video footage, images, and text to visually represent your story. Use voiceover to add personal reflection, or include captions to provide additional context. Ensure that each element—whether video, text, or sound—serves a purpose in expressing your core narrative.
Edit and Assemble:
Use digital tools such as Adobe Spark, iMovie, or Canva to edit and assemble your materials into a cohesive digital story. Pay attention to the pacing of visuals and audio to ensure the narrative flows smoothly.
Presentation:
Share your completed digital story. Discuss the choices you made in telling your story and the significance of the themes you explored.
Reflection: After completing the activity, reflect on the following questions:
How did the process of creating this digital story help you think differently about your own identity?
What challenges did you face in using multimedia elements to tell your story?
How does your personal narrative connect to larger social or cultural themes?
Outcome: By completing this activity, participants will gain skills in digital media creation and storytelling. They will also engage in meaningful self-reflection, exploring how personal experiences can resonate with broader social contexts. This activity emphasizes the power of digital storytelling as a tool for expressing identity and sharing experiences with a wider audience.
Activity: Adapting a Video Clip into a Zine
Adapting stories across different mediums allows for new dimensions of creativity and interpretation. One example of this is Dr. L. Anh Williams’s adaptation of Emilia Rueda’s digital storytelling piece, "Hand of Colonialism," into the illustrated zine, Introduction. Emilia’s original piece was a digital project that combined "B-roll" footage, filmed by her father, of her making salsa from scratch, text, and voiceover to explore themes of colonialism, identity, and cultural memory. Dr. Williams took the core of Emilia’s message and translated it into a visual, printed format, emphasizing how the meaning of a story can shift and evolve when presented in new ways.
The zine format allowed Dr. Williams to visually break down key moments of Emilia’s digital work, creating space for both reflection and engagement. By focusing on the spatial design and layout of images and text, the adaptation maintained the emotional and intellectual depth of Emilia’s narrative while offering a new way to experience her story, demonstrating that adaptation can express a narrative in new forms while preserving its essential meaning.
This exercise emphasizes the importance of spatial design, visual storytelling, and personal expression, showing that artistic ability is less important than the ability to thoughtfully interpret and adapt ideas across formats.
Objective: Participants will learn how to adapt a short video clip or media piece into a zine. The focus is on creative expression, spatial design, and adaptation, rather than drawing ability. This activity encourages participants to think critically about how to communicate the essence of a video or multimedia work in a physical, printed format.
Materials Needed:
Video clip (participants can select a short clip, around 2–5 minutes, or use provided material)
Paper (8.5x11 or A4, folded into mini-booklets, or pre-made zine templates)
Scissors and glue (for cutting and assembling materials)
Markers, pens, or printed text (for captions or notes)
Images or stills from the video (screenshots or sketches based on the video)
Optional software: Canva, Photoshop, or other design tools for creating digital layouts
Instructions:
Select and Watch the Video Clip:
Choose a short video clip (e.g., a scene from a movie, a personal video, or a digital story). Watch it carefully and note the key themes, emotions, or messages that resonate with you.
Break Down the Story or Concept:
Identify the essential elements of the video—what story is being told? What are the visual, emotional, or thematic highlights? Focus on translating the video’s core message into a series of frames or pages in the zine.
Consider the pace of the video: Where does it build tension? Where does it resolve? Map these points to the layout of your zine.
Create Visual Adaptations:
Take screenshots, still images, or make simple sketches that capture key moments in the video. You do not need to be an artist—focus on selecting images or visuals that represent important parts of the story.
You may also represent abstract ideas, moods, or emotions visually through color, symbols, or layout choices.
Add Text and Captions:
Write captions or short reflections that convey the ideas and emotions from the video. These can be quotes directly from the video or personal interpretations of the visuals.
Consider how text and images interact. Text can enhance or counter the images to create additional layers of meaning.
Plan the Layout:
Think about how to divide the story across multiple zine pages. How will the reader move through the narrative? Each page or spread should build on the previous one.
Pay attention to spatial design. Where will text appear? How much space will the visuals take up? Experiment with different layouts to see what best represents the story.
Assemble the Zine:
Using your materials, assemble the pages of your zine. Fold, cut, and glue the pieces together. If working digitally, use a design platform to arrange the elements before printing.
Reflection and Sharing:
Reflect on the choices you made during the adaptation process. How did translating a video into a zine affect your understanding of the original work?
Share your zine with others, discussing the challenges and creative decisions you encountered.
Reflection Questions:
What was the most challenging part of adapting a video into a zine?
How did the physical layout of the zine change the way you presented the video’s story?
What did you learn about spatial design and storytelling through this process?
Outcomes:
Participants will develop skills in adaptation, visual storytelling, and spatial design. They will learn how to reimagine a multimedia piece in a print format and explore how different mediums can express the same core ideas in new and insightful ways.
Activity: Honoring Grief and Injustice Through Creative Expression
Objective: This activity invites participants to explore how grief, mourning, and injustice can inspire creativity. Through making, participants will reflect on how loss—whether personal or collective—can be expressed and honored through artistic creation. The activity also encourages sensitivity and ethical awareness in representing others' experiences.
Materials Needed:
Paper or digital tools for creating (e.g., zine templates, drawing materials, or digital platforms)
Images, symbols, or objects that resonate with personal or collective experiences of grief or injustice
Text (captions, quotes, reflections) to accompany the visuals
Instructions:
Reflect on Grief and Injustice:
Think about a moment in your life or a larger social issue where grief or injustice was present. This could be a personal loss, the loss of a loved one, or something broader like systemic injustice or violence.
Consider how mourning is felt or experienced, both individually and as part of a community.
Express through Creative Medium:
Using a medium of your choice (zine, collage, digital story), express the emotions or reflections that come from your experience with grief or injustice.
Focus on capturing the depth of the emotion or experience, rather than creating something "beautiful" or "perfect." Your goal is to honor the feelings, not to display artistic skill.
Combine Visuals and Text:
Incorporate images, symbols, or visuals that resonate with your reflections. These could be simple drawings, cutouts from magazines, or digital graphics.
Write text that explains or accompanies the images. This can be a personal reflection, a quote, or a poem that speaks to the experience of grief or loss.
Ethics of Representation:
Reflect on how you represent grief and injustice, especially if you are drawing from stories or experiences that are not your own.
Consider whether the images, symbols, or text you choose to use are respectful of the people or communities involved. If you are representing someone else’s story, think about whether you are doing so ethically and with care.
Focus on expressing solidarity rather than appropriating others’ pain for artistic purposes.
Share and Reflect:
Share your work with a group or community, if appropriate. Discuss how the process of creating helped you reflect on grief or injustice.
Reflect on how creativity can serve as a way to honor those experiences and as a step toward healing or advocacy.
Reflection Questions:
How did creating this piece help you process or understand grief or injustice differently?
What role does creativity play in expressing difficult emotions?
How can we ensure that our creative work respects the experiences and stories of others, especially when dealing with sensitive topics?
Note on Ethics and Representation:
When representing stories of grief, loss, or injustice—especially those involving others—it’s crucial to approach the work with care and respect. Avoid using others' experiences solely for artistic purposes or without their consent. Always ask yourself how you can create in a way that honors the individuals or communities affected, ensuring that their stories are handled with the dignity they deserve.
Acknowledgments
The Emilia Archive is made possible through the support of the Rueda Family and New Mexico State University’s Feminist Border Arts (FBA), Gender & Sexuality Studies (G&SS), the Department of English, the University Art Museum, the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences Stan Fulton Endowed Chair, the Office for Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity, NMSU Global Campus, and Research, Creativity & Economic Development.
