About

I am aware of my cultural categorization, neither as native Mexicana nor Americana. As an artist, I strive to utilize this nomadic sensibility by inserting myself between, among, and outside of the status quo of American and Mexican culture.  As the sociopolitical climate of the US/Mexico border remains controversial, I continue the conversation of permeability and how the perception of the actual line of the border can be reimagined.  Borders are essential; borders in nature and the physical body (skin, blood) exemplify the importance of the marginalized bodies and the importance of reciprocity between two entities.  Barriers are what drive my artwork to respond to the dangers they implicate, for the peoples and ecosystems involved, and bring forward the natural ways in which borders do and, most importantly, could exist.

Through video, installation, performance, and photography, I render contemporary life in the Southwest with a feminist perspective atop a fence that bisects one culture.

BIO

M. Jenea Sanchez was born and raised in Douglas, AZ / Agua Prieta, SON. After receiving her MFA from Arizona State University in 2011, she returned to Douglas to pursue her career as an artist and educator. She is a fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture’s Leadership Institute, a Mellon-Fronteridades Creative Scholar, and currently a faculty member at Cochise College in the Digital Media Arts Program. Sanchez’s work has been exhibited at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Arizona Art Museum, The Latino Museum of History, Art, and Culture, and the U.S. - Mexico Border fence. She and her husband are the co-founders of Border Arts Corridor (BAC), a 501 (c) 3 non- profit arts organization providing the borderlands community an immersive arts district through bi-national artwalks, workshops, performances, public dialogues and artist residencies. BAC was awarded a Governor’s Arts Award in 2016 and has been featured in the New York Times for producing binational art installations and performances on the U.S.- Mexico Border Fence.