ARTIST STATEMENT
I am fascinated by how individuals create intimacy with familiar mundane objects. I have been researching Milagros and other types of totems individuals build relationships with to combat trauma or other life experiences.
The objects I have been utilizing lately are associated with the conflict along the Texas and Mexico Border concerning immigration and immigrants searching for the American Dream. Within my work, I attempt to question the original association of these objects by abstracting them through the lens of the photocopier, cellphone camera, or computer scanner.
By removing these objects from context, I ask, “is the relationship altered? Does the viewer create an alternate relationship?” through my prints, artist books, and participatory installations, I attempt to challenge the viewer’s relationship and perception of the altered objects. I utilize printmaking because of its association with disseminating knowledge to the masses. I value the types of printmaking I may share with a larger audience.
The 2016 election brought forth a new examination of my identity, causing an inward investigation of how that relates to the world and society around me. I began this exploration because I sought to unpack my internal discord regarding my bifurcated identity as a Mexican American. As a second-generation, white-passing Latina woman in Academia, I feel reminded of the privilege afforded me, and I am interested in communicating that conflict within my work.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lauren Cardenás is a Latinx studio artist who focuses on print media. Her current body of work asks the viewer to question the connotations of everyday mundane objects. She is investigating her bifurcated Mexican American identity as a subject matter.
Cardenás holds a BA in painting, printmaking, and drawing from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX; she is a Tamarind Institute Printer Training Program graduate and holds an MFA in visual art with a focus in print media from Washington University in St. Louis. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She was awarded the University of Nevada, Reno Black Rock Press Redfield Fellowship (2016-2018). She created a limited edition artist book titled “Things You See in the Dark,” which is a collaboration with poet Daniel Enrique Perez.
She was the editor and founder of PIECRUST Magazine (2011-2014), an art and biannual literary magazine based out of St. Louis. Lauren also was a co-founding member and co-director of Museum Blue (2014-2017), an artist-run project space in St. Louis. Along with her curatorial and publishing practice, she was a founding member and an active part of the steering committee of the St. Louis Small Press Expo (2014-2016). She has co-curated many exhibitions that make strides to bridge the gap between art and literature. She was a Gallery Committee member for the Holland Project in Reno, NV (2017-2018). She is currently the Assistant Professor of Printmaking at Louisiana State University.
© Lauren Cardenas