A Coat of Many Colors: Celebrating Cynthia (CJ) Davis
This Hispanic Heritage Month, Virginia LULAC celebrates A Coat of Many Colors, recognizing the cultures, identities, experiences, talents, and stories that together make up Virginia's Latino community.
A coat is not made from a single thread, and our community cannot be represented by a single story.
Throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we are highlighting Latinos across Virginia who represent the many colors of our community. Artists and educators. Veterans and students. Advocates and entrepreneurs. Immigrants and generations of families who have called Virginia home.
For our first spotlight, we could think of no better place to begin than with someone whose life and work are quite literally defined by color.
Meet ✨ Cynthia (CJ) Davis ✨
CJ Davis is a Mexican American artist, author, public health scholar, and community advocate with deep roots in Northern Virginia.
Born and raised in Prince William County, CJ grew up at the intersection of different cultures and experiences. With an immigrant Mexican mother and a Southern American father, questions of culture, belonging, and identity would eventually become an important part of both her life and her art.
CJ began immersing herself in art at a young age. What started as creative expression eventually became something much greater: a way to understand herself, process difficult experiences, reconnect with her roots, and help others do the same.
Today, CJ's paintings explore identity, memory, resilience, healing, family, and the experiences that shape who we become.
And at the center of it all is color.
Art Looks Better in Color
CJ has described her artistic philosophy with a simple but powerful idea: “Color makes the medicine go down.”
Her work often tackles subjects that are anything but easy. Trauma. Mental and physical health. Domestic violence. Identity. Pain. Recovery.
Yet CJ surrounds those experiences with extraordinary color.
Rather than allowing darkness to dominate the canvas, she uses vibrant colors, humor, symbolism, portraiture, and emotion to invite people into difficult conversations while still leaving room for resilience and hope.
That philosophy became part of the message behind her 2021 TEDx talk, “Art Looks Better in Color,” which addressed the lack of diversity and representation within the art world.
For CJ, however, color represents more than what appears on a canvas.
It represents people.
It represents perspectives.
And it represents the identities and experiences that influence how each of us sees the world.
Returning to Her Roots
CJ's Mexican American identity has become an important part of that journey.
Her artwork explores the intersection of ethnicity, culture, gender, disability, family, and lived experience. Her creative work has also examined how identity moves across generations and how reconnecting with one's heritage can become part of healing.
In 2023, CJ published Resurrection: Returning to Roots from Trauma, a deeply personal work exploring trauma, resilience, and the healing power of art.
The idea of returning to one's roots runs throughout her story.
The parts of ourselves that once make us feel different can eventually become the very things that give our stories their richness.
Art, Education, and Advocacy
CJ's journey has also been shaped by education and a commitment to bringing together creativity, advocacy, and public health.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Visual Technology from George Mason University, where her education helped her develop the artistic voice that would become central to her work as a painter, author, and advocate.
While at George Mason, CJ also immersed herself in campus leadership and service. She held several leadership positions with UndocuMason, ultimately serving as Co-President, and served in George Mason Student Government, including as Chair of the University Life Committee.
Through UndocuMason, CJ became an advocate for educational access and success for undocumented students. She worked to bring greater awareness to the barriers undocumented students face in higher education and helped build support for resources available to them, including efforts to increase awareness and funding for scholarships directly supporting George Mason students.
Her art and education advocacy also intersected. CJ curated “Establishing Roots and Resisting Illegality” with UndocuMason, an exhibition that used art to bring visibility to the experiences of undocumented communities and demonstrate how creative expression can become a vehicle for advocacy.
Her broader campus involvement included work surrounding mental health awareness, survivor advocacy, student life, and the experiences of undocumented students and workers.
But CJ's education would eventually take her beyond the studio.
She went on to earn her Master of Public Health (MPH) from Old Dominion University, bringing together two fields that might appear very different at first glance: art and public health.
For CJ, they are deeply connected.
Her education reflects the same philosophy that runs throughout her life and artwork: healing can take many forms. Art can create space for people to process experiences and tell their stories, while public health can examine the broader systems and circumstances that shape the health and well-being of entire communities.
That commitment to healing and advocacy continues today through her leadership with Purple Runway, where CJ serves as President of the Board of Directors. Purple Runway is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting survivors of domestic and intimate-partner violence through advocacy, education, awareness, community support, and resources designed to help survivors rebuild their lives.
As Board President, CJ helps provide leadership and governance to an organization whose mission closely intersects with themes that have long appeared in her own work: survivor empowerment, healing, education, healthy relationships, and breaking cycles of violence. Purple Runway's work includes educational workshops, survivor support and community programs, advocacy initiatives, and its signature runway event, which brings together style and advocacy to celebrate survivors while raising awareness about domestic and intimate-partner violence.
CJ's leadership does not stop there. She also serves as Vice President for Women of Virginia LULAC, carrying her commitment to advocacy, education, women's empowerment, and community well-being into statewide Latino leadership.
Today, CJ brings together the many worlds that have shaped her life: art, education, public health, survivor advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and Latino community service.
Her journey from a Bachelor of Fine Arts to a Master of Public Health, from advocating for undocumented students on her college campus to leading organizations serving women, survivors, and Latino communities, is another reminder of what Virginia LULAC means by A Coat of Many Colors.
We are not defined by one talent, one profession, one identity, or one path.
An artist can also be a public health professional.
A scholar can also be an advocate.
A researcher can also be a storyteller.
And a person who once used her voice to open doors for students can continue using that voice to open doors for survivors, women, and communities across Virginia.
Each thread adds another color to the coat.
One Color in Virginia's Coat
CJ Davis' story captures exactly why Virginia LULAC chose A Coat of Many Colors as our Hispanic Heritage Month theme.
Being Latino has never meant having a single story.
Our community contains different nationalities, races, languages, generations, professions, identities, struggles, traditions, and dreams.
Some of us discover our heritage early. Others return to it later.
Some preserve our stories through food or music. Others preserve them through service, education, advocacy, entrepreneurship, or, in CJ's case, a paintbrush.
Every experience adds another thread.
Every identity adds another color.
And together, they create something far more beautiful than any one color could create alone.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, Virginia LULAC is proud to celebrate CJ Davis, a Mexican American artist from right here in Virginia who reminds us that even our most difficult experiences can become part of something meaningful, beautiful, and full of color.
A Coat of Many Colors
Many cultures. Many identities. Many stories. One community.
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About Virginia LULAC
Virginia LULAC is the state chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights advocacy organization. Our mission is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans in the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond.
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