Lauren Cardenas
Semifinalist
Lauren Cardenas (born 1985, Longview, TX; lives Baton Rouge, LA) has a BA from Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX, is a graduate of the Tamarind Institute Printer Training Program, Albuquerque, NM, and holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Her work has been exhibited at Glassell Gallery, Baton Rouge; El Paso Museum of Art, TX; Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, AR; Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT; Antenna Gallery and Contemporary Art Center, both New Orleans, LA; Every Woman Biennial and Print Center New York, both New York, NY; and in London, UK. Her work has been featured in Texas Monthly and The Latinx Project at New York University. She was awarded residencies at MASSMoca and The Printery Book Arts Lab, Central Print, St. Louis, MO. She is an Assistant Professor of Printmaking at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
Statement from the Artist:
“No Home for You Here” is a collection of work that explores loss and conflict by examining one’s hybrid identity – especially the way prosecution, deportation, the refusal of amnesty and racism in the U.S. affects Latin Americans’ identities. Like many Americans, I am an amalgamation of different cultures and races and am not part of a homogeneous, de-ethnicized, idealized U.S. identity. Through this work, I attempt to understand how living with bifurcated identities leads to struggles over kinship and a yearning for a new consciousness that embraces and celebrates both attributes.