Art Mediums: photography

www.marilynmontufar.com

Marilyn Montúfar is a fine art photographer, educator, and activist with over ten years of research, production, teaching, and exhibition experience locally, nationally, and internationally. Her work amplifies stories about underrepresented communities through the arts—youth, migrants, women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ communities.

She received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Feria Internacional De La Lectura Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico (2022), Strange Paradise Gallery (2021), Portland, Centro de Investigaciones Artísticas Gerónimo Baqueiro Fóster, Mérida, Mexico (2019), among others, and has been included in numerous group exhibitions since 2006. In the fall of 2020, her photograph Ronnie and Cleveland (2006) inaugurated the Frye Art Museum’s Boren Banner Series as a monumental 16 x 20 ft. vinyl banner.

Montúfar was an artist in residence at Chautauqua School of Art in NY; Centrum at Port Townsend, WA; the Vermont Studio Center at Johnson, VT; and Primal Studio in Mexico City, where she created the youth project Beyond Borders/Más allá de las Fronteras, a visual collaboration and international exchange program between Mexico and the United States. The project was featured at the Northern Vermont University’s Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, FotoMéxico Festival, and the Tamayo Art Museum’s Education Center in Mexico City in 2019. Montúfar is a Mexican American dual citizen.

“My artwork is rooted in my personal experiences, informed by my Xicana upbringing, raised by my single mother who was a migrant from Mexico and my uncle who is a double minority as a gay Latinx male. My aspiration for art is to ignite social change through a call to action with the individuals I photograph as well as with individuals I teach with a goal of making art more accessible and equitable. I am in solidarity with the communities I photograph. As a practicing artist who is passionate about creating bridges with students through community engaged scholarship, I have pivoted my art practice to adopt social practice partnerships with various educators, writers, and artists in order to create a platform for youth empowerment through the arts. An example is the photography youth project I created titled, Beyond Borders –a visual collaboration and international exchange program between Mexico and the United States. In 2017, I was a Teaching Fellow (Artist-In-Residence) at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont and at Primal Studio in Mexico City. Through my artist residency experiences, I bridged these communities and created a photography program, mentoring youth in Vermont and Mexico. These workshops were led in collaboration with educators who reside in these locations, such as Matt Neckers (USA) and Brenda Anayatzin Ortiz (Mexico). The culminating project was featured as a photography exhibition at the Northern Vermont University’s Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, FotoMéxico Festival, and the Tamayo Art Museum’s Education Center in Mexico City in 2019.”

“I am a big fan of artists who incorporate multimedia art into their practice and work across various art mediums. One of my favorite artists is Guadalupe Maravilla, a child migrant to the United States from El Salvador. I admire their ability to activate a space and create a healing experience for communities through sound baths and stunning art installations.”