Maria Sanchez

Artist Statement

Leaving my native country, Venezuela, at a young age has led me to explore questions about self, place, and belonging in my work. My art practice documents the presence and absence of my body through devices and materials such as: cameras, mirrors, metal wire, hair, and charcoal. I use my body as a camera and a mirror that constantly transforms, distorts, contains, and fragments itself into new forms in order to communicate with my female ancestors, mother-earth, and myself. I reference the 19th century female malady of hysteria in my work, using it as a vehicle to transmit non-verbal messages. In particular, I am creating portals to communicate with Maritza del Coromoto, my grandmother who I never met, although I am her reflection and resemblance. Through her, I hope to find answers about my roots, womanhood, spirituality and deterritorialization. I have also formed relationships with Venezuelan figures like: la venus de Tacarigua, la virgen de Coromoto, and María Lionza. Desenterrando (Unearthing), is an installation with metal-wire sculptures. Using metal-wire, I draw gestures with my hands and incorporate natural materials: hair, stone beads, broken mirrors, candle wax, and hand gestures with pencil and charcoal. This meditative process of twisting the material is a form of containing and releasing energy, memories, and traces of myself. With my work, I am evoking a longing for something not lived, about a place (Venezuela) that lives in my memories, but a part of me is still there and maybe it should not have been gone.

Artist Bio

María Sánchez was born in Caracas, Venezuela and is based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently a MFA Candidate for the Intermedia and Digital Arts program at UMBC, and has a Graphic Design BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She is working as the Communication Team Researcher at the Imaging Research Center, the IMDA Assistant for UMBC, and as the Assistant intern for Connect + Collect Gallery and BmoreArt. She uses video projection, sculpture, and performance to explore narratives about her ancestors, embodiment, and spirituality. María uses her body to document the presence and absence of those narratives through devices and materials such as: cameras, mirrors, metal-wire, hair, and natural stone beads. Her work is an accumulation of reflections and conversations with her ancestors and roots, in which she is continually unearthing memories with the uncertainty of an answer.