Coki Panda was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She was adopted at eight-months old and raised in an American-Irish family. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee until she was twelve. She then moved to Atlanta and has been a resident ever since. She very much considers herself an ATLien. She received her BFA in Printmaking from Savannah College of Art & Design-Atlanta in 2014. She is currently working as a studio artist and liquor manager at a wine and spirits store in Decatur, Georgia. Panda's exhibition Latent is currently on view in the Dodd's Glass Gallery, room S365, with a closing reception to take place on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 6pm.

The artist's statement for Latent is as follows:

I work in the mediums of printmaking and drawing simultaneously to understand the contended and distressed parts of my life. My dreams and subconscious have allowed interpretations of who I am physically, mentally, and emotionally seep into my work. The physical beginning with aspects relating to my biological mother, surmising how her genetics possibly make who I am mentally and emotionally. Spirit animals and their symbolism lend a hand in connecting my mental and emotional state to the physical in terms of the environment they inhabit, sharing some of the same traits. The simplicity of creating new work that deals with my anxiety and insomnia have taken on different meanings of what happy and liveliness can mean to me. This body of work is about understanding my anxiety and insomnia, and how my sub consciousness allows me to envision manifestations of where I’m most content.

The experience of living in the seclusion of mountains has been the most memorable period of my life I was able to sleep and be at ease. Living in the environment of the mountains and physically feeling the elevation had translated into an emotional state of detachment. The sounds of cicadas and moth wings flapping has a way of calming and slowing down my thoughts and fears. Untroubled by my anxiety and insomnia this had given me the ability to feel in control.

Eventually cicadas and moths translated into most of my dreams and have been reoccurring ever since I can remember. I have connected the nocturnal nature of moths as symbolism of my insomnia. While cicadas are known to burrow their way underground, this being an interpretation to my preference of seclusion.

Not knowing when and where my anxiety and insomnia began, the one reason I can determine is through my biological mother. Never having met her, I’ve created her in my image and can only understand that I’ve inherited those traits from her. I accept her as she may be, but it has led me to search for a way to develop something of my own and be able to disconnect from these traits. Sleep is continuously difficult, but being unconscious provides me the opportunity to experience possible manifestations of what I’d consider to be a state of complete elation. I believe some may have been an indication of my future home, partner, simple pleasures, etc. An examination, a reminder, of being in the seclusion of mountains and how my physical, emotional, and mental being is greatly affected.

Creating this body of work has allowed me to explore and take note of what can be possible and how my anxieties have filtered into my dreams. How interpreting my dreams can be beneficial in its own way. How manifestations and appearances of what contentment is to me could create many possibilities within my studio practice.