As a mixed Mexican American woman, my work is guided by personal experiences living in and out of the U.S Southwest Mexico Border. My recent body of work collages symbols in colonial history, and traditional craft processes that speak to the amalgamation of religions and bi-cultural aesthetics within the borderland region. These visual representations include spiritual symbolism that connect to border culture, land, and identity. In my work I use color and raw materials as a unifier within personal narrative, Mexican American religious icons, and sentimental objects. As I spin, bind, loop, dye, or weave fiber; these surfaces, materials and colors create visual references from the Chihuahua desert landscapes across West Texas. I reconstruct my identity within my art practice and relationship to place, through these actions I reclaim my identity, decolonize my belief systems, and heal generational trauma.
Marina G. Cano (b.1994) is a third year Fibers MFA candidate at the University of Missouri. She has exhibited work in her hometown El Paso, Texas and with LA ONDA a traveling, migrating Latine-centered exhibit which continues to tour through Kansas City. Cano is a recipient of the Verna Welfekammer Art Doctoral Fund, the Windgate University Fellowship partnered with Arrowmount School of Craft, and a Studio Assistantship with the Penland School of Craft. In 2019 she graduated with a BFA in Fibers at the University of North Texas and received an associate degree in Fashion at the El Paso Community College.