Artist depicts Latino diversity on Instagram. ‘The purpose ultimately is understanding’

After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right, Sanger resident Alfredo Ponce picked up his iPad and started to draw.

One of the colorful images he created features Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez surrounded by pro-choice slogans like, “keep abortion safe and legal.” Another features a woman with a paliacate (bandana) around her neck, holding a Spanish-language sign that proclaims a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

Ponce then posted the images to Instagram, where his 9,500 followers know him as Pholk Giant. They’re among some 10,000 images he’s posted on the platform over the past decade. His work, which is often tied to current events in the San Joaquin Valley and nationwide, captures the joys as well as the struggles of the Latino community.

“I think the purpose (of my art) ultimately is understanding, getting a better understanding of who we are,” Ponce said. “Deep down inside, there are a lot of things that really do connect us, and all I’m trying to do is get people to dig deep.”

Born in the small town of Yahualica, in the Mexican state of Jalisco, Ponce credits his creativity to his humble upbringing split between Yahualica and Jalisco’s mountains. He immigrated with his parents and five older siblings to Fresno at age 9 and grew up picking grapes with his family.

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During high school, Ponce wrestled, played football and danced folkórico, traditional Mexican dances, from which his artistic name, Pholk Giant, derives. He graduated from Fresno State and the University of Southern California and now works as the principal at Sanger’s Community Day School.

He’s also experienced success as a self-taught vector graphics artist. The U.S. Library of Congress has acquired four of his images. Comedian and actor George Lopez has commissioned his work and other Latino celebrities have shared his images over the years.

The Fresno Bee interviewed Ponce on July 6 to learn more about what inspires his artwork. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

What subjects or ideas inspire your art?

I focus on the Latino community as a whole, we’re so diverse. I am Mexican, but I do try to focus on the issues that occur throughout Latin American countries. We’re all sizes and shapes and colors, but there are a lot of stereotypes. It’s important for us to break them.

I try not to limit myself. I do a lot of artwork that depicts our culture in a positive light and movements of social change. When Black Lives Matter started, I created tons of pieces and actually created a lotería set with social justice leaders and African American icons.

Immigration issues are a big one for me. As a former farmworker, showing our people hard at work – whether it is working in the fields like I did with my family, to graduating from high school or college to a variety of different professions – it’s important to show our diversity and possibilities. Our people, our gente, are going to the moon and going to Mars, so I like to show the whole array of who we are and how complex we actually are.

And the pandemic, too. My wife is a doctor by trade. One of the things I wanted to do was focus on the essential workers and the lack of attention that they got throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I developed a lotería set and some (additional artwork) focusing specifically on essential workers.

How does your work engage the Latino community?

I think the purpose ultimately is understanding. Getting a better understanding of who we are. I can put a piece of artwork out there and sometimes it rubs people the wrong way.

To me, that’s the whole purpose: Allowing people to think critically. Some people might be offended, but deep down inside there are a lot of things that do connect us. Really, all I’m trying to do is get people to dig deep, and I don’t mind disagreement.

I love disagreements. As long as they are respectful and polite, I’ll engage. If they’re nasty, then I just leave them alone, but it really is to allow and to begin conversations about how we are more alike than we’re not. At the end of the day, we’re all human.

There are tons of differences, but the world is small nowadays, especially with social media. I’ve had people reach out from all over the world: different countries in Latin America, Germany, India, and Nepal.

What was it like creating art for George Lopez?

George Lopez is very gracious. I put an image online of George Lopez as a lotería image, and he sent me a private message and his phone number, and he told me to call him!

I was driving and I was like, “oh my gosh, let me just park because I don’t know what to say,” and he was very professional, very nice.

I did a whole lotería set for him. At the time I was just starting, and he wanted other products and I just couldn’t do them for him, but did design his lotería set with images of him as teacher Jaime “Kemosabe” Escalante from the movie “Stand and Deliver,” as Fernando Valenzuela, superheroes, an engineer, his “tan taran” joke, el Chicharito, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Emiliano Zapata, other artists and Mexican icons.

When he came to Fresno, some years back, he invited me to one of his shows and I got to meet him and I had about 10 posters that he signed for me, autographed, that I donated to charity.

Why do your images of farmworkers often feature skulls?

If you look at some of the campesino (agricultural worker) images, if they’re picking fruit, it’s actually not fruit. If you actually look at the baskets they’re holding, some of them actually have skulls. As we look at our farmworkers who have allowed us to survive through this pandemic and feed us on a regular basis, they are out there exposing themselves to the elements and to a lot of the pesticides that are out there.

Constant exposure to the elements and pesticides do cause a lot of damage and it’s important for people to be aware. The purpose of these images is to be more respectful and mindful, to take care of the people taking care of us.

One of the images that I have is a farmworker working and there’s a plane flying, spraying things like pesticides. It used to be pretty common that workers were working and the plane went by above them, spraying them too.

What is your goal for Pholk Giant on Instagram?

I hope it initiates dialogue. We’re at this point right now where if we are from different political parties or have different political views, we can’t even talk to one another.

Part of the whole concept of showing my artwork is that it creates a conversation that initiates dialogue so that we can at least agree to disagree at some points.

If I get to initiate understanding and conversations with my pieces of artwork, I think I’ve done my job.