ARTIST BIO

Martín Wannam (b. 1992, Guatemala) is a visual artist and educator whose work looks critically at the historical, social and political climate of Central America, specifically examining its impact on the queer individual. He uses photography, sculpture, and performance as a tool of constant evaluation of systematic structures such as religion, folklore, and wester beauty standards through a queer lens.

He received his MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico in Spring 2020, a Diploma in Contemporary photography from La Fototeca (GT) in 2016, and their BA in Graphic Design from the Universidad Rafael Landivar (GT) in 2015. Wannam has exhibited nationally and internationally, including various group and solo shows in Guatemala, The United States, Rotterdam, and Korea. Wannam is the recipient of a Special Mention in the category Serie in PHOTO PRIDE 2020, Fulcrum Fund 516 (2020), Coke Newhall Photo Fellowship (2020), MaryAnn Evans Grant (2019), SPE Student Award for Innovations in Imaging (2018), and Site Scholar (2018-2019). Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, NM working with Szu-Han Ho, Bernadine Hernandez, and Hazel Batrezchavez in the Fronteristxs Collective to end migrant detention and abolish the carceral state.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My practice looks critically at the historical, social, and political climate of Central America, specifically examining its impact on the queer individual. I manipulate, invert and unsettle subjects and object historically considered precious as a constant evaluation of systematic structures such as religion, folklore, and western beauty standards through a queer lens. Using photography, sculpture, and performance, I challenge both my cultural background and my gender identity, which, in their own ways, make my existence and my movements in the world a political act. I utilize and manipulate objects such as candles, flags, economic currencies, catholic icons, bananas, and concrete blocks to construct—and interrupt—my own narratives, based as they are on ideals imposed by state, religion, and society. I use and repurpose these materials, much as I do Christian/ patriotic iconography and its symbolism, as tools to critique and destabilize the patriarchal, heteronormative system that has structured my life primarily through the imposition of a strict and suffocating religious dogma. I’m interested in disrupting, demanding, deconstructing, and creating visibility for bodies that lie outside the norm and have been rendered invisible or hidden.

PROPOSAL SUMMARY

I seek the funding to develop my “Quetzales Projects” that target Guatemalan coin currency intending to disrupt it by creating a queer alternative representation of these coins.

Learn more about Martin Wannam here.