WOMEN & THEIR WORK

Monica Martinez-Diaz
A Trajectory of Grief

May 18 – July 3, 2024

Opening Reception: May 18 // 7-9pm

Conceived in Juarez, Mexico, A Trajectory of Grief addresses the range of emotions Monica Martinez-Diaz experienced following the passing of her grandfather. The show features an array of work across multiple media including large-scale photographic installations, a photographic series, a book project, and video.

Each piece focuses on the ambivalence Martinez-Diaz feels about the grief she experiences; she portrays it as a paradoxical journey where sorrow and relief, pain and acceptance intertwine seamlessly. Martinez-Diaz’s work aims to unravel her role in navigating her conflicted feelings about this multifaceted human experience. Through her imagery, she presents beauty tinged with an undertone of sadness, creating contrasting visuals that reflect on the concepts of life and loss.

These images foster a dialogue between domestic spaces, objects, and mourning. The exhibition demands that the viewer traverse between sensations and emotions confronting contradictory works. With A Trajectory of Grief, Martinez-Diaz urges viewers to approach and immerse themselves in pieces intended to present a raw and relatable story of death—and the lives it leaves behind.

About the Artist

Monica Martinez-Diaz holds an MFA from New Mexico State University. Her work centers on personal narratives that reflect her family and hometown, Ciudad Juárez. Functioning as both a visual and biographical representation, her images explore the inherited complexities inherent to the MX-US border territory and her upbringing in such an ambivalent environment. Ciudad Juárez embodies a duality of dreams and nightmares, beauty and terror, stability and chaos, decay and growth.

About Women & Their Work

Women & Their Work fosters the artistic growth of women artists by encouraging them to make new, adventurous work and develops audiences for whom contemporary art is meaningful. Our mission is to ensure that diverse women artists are equitably represented in all forms of art. For 46 years, Women & Their Work has been a cornerstone of the Austin arts community and has actively developed the careers of more than 2,000 women artists, presenting hundreds of visual art exhibitions, music, dance and theater events, film festivals and education programs. Nationally recognized for the quality of its work, Women & Their Work has played an important role in the development of the visual and performing arts in Texas.

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