Baker Artist Portfolios

Leaving her native country, Venezuela, at a young age and not being able to return has led her to explore questions about self, place, and belonging in her work. There is an obsessive desire to volver a la tierra, to go back to your roots. Utilizing materials found in the U.S., María reterritorializes them into sacred objects based on memories from Venezuela, family, and the myth and cult of María Lionza. As a way to process the conditions that brought her to this country, she aims to explore the intersection between politics in spiritualism, and spiritualism in politics. Across installation, film, sculpture, drawing, sound, and performance, María creates narratives about her ancestors, embodiment, and spirituality.

María Sánchez (b. Caracas, Venezuela) is based in Baltimore, Maryland. Sánchez is currently a MFA Candidate for the Intermedia and Digital Arts (IMDA) program at UMBC. She holds a Graphic Design BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. Sánchez is working as the IMDA Assistant for UMBC and as the Gallery Assistant for Connect+Collect Gallery and BmoreArt.

María was awarded the RTKL Fellowship for her installation Desenterrando (Unearthing). Her work has been exhibited at Transformer DC, VisArts Center Kaplan Gallery, Current Space, Julio Fine Art Gallery, 2640 Space and MICA Wilgus Gallery. Her photographs have been featured in multiple articles for BmoreArt online magazine and one for the printed ISSUE 8.