Sandra C. Fernández

Fernández began studies in graphic design at The Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin and received an Associate in Applied Arts degree. She continued at The University of Wisconsin at Madison, receiving first a Bachelors degree in Arts, to later graduate with a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Photography, Printmaking and Book Arts, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She studied intaglio printmaking techniques at Taller Tres en Raya in Madrid, Spain. She was invited as an artist in residence at Sam Coronado's Serie Project (Austin TX) in 2005 & 2013 and to Self Help Graphics (Los Angeles CA) in 2017 in where the artists regularly discussed political issues related to Latinx life in the United States, particularly the impact of free trade agreements on the U.S./Mexico border and its residents.

As early as the 1990s, Fernández began producing thematic series of works. Her first collection of artist's books as containers reflect various aspects of her cultural background and upbringing. The Paper Doll (Cucas) series are mixed media pieces that use the symbol of a skirt to address women's issues. The Border series emphasizes migration and the plight of DREAMers. young people who entered the United States as minors and who are granted temporary residency through the DREAM Act.

Sandra C. Fernández has had work exhibited in numerous group shows and solo exhibitions throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Perú, Ecuador, Argentina, Canada, Italy, Spain, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Japan and Indonesia. Her work was recently included in ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, where for the first time, historical civil rights-era prints by Chicano artists are exhibited alongside works by graphic artists working from the 1980s to today.

Sandra C. Fernández (born 1964) is an Ecuadorian-American artist living in New Jersey. Her practice includes—separately and in combination—printmaking, photography, artist’s books, soft sculpture, fiber art, assemblage, and installations; using a variety of materials, such as paper, thread, metal, wood, organic materials, and small found objects. Fernandez’s work is rooted in the transborder experiences of exile, dislocation, relocation, memory, and self-conscious identity-construction/reconstruction.

Fernández was born in Queens, New York in 1964. Daughter of Ecuadorian parents who migrated to the United States in the late 50's as young adults. Before turning one year old, she moved with her mother to Quito. At age three, she began traveling to the United States to spend some summers with her father. She spent the majority of her early years in Ecuador where she learned traditional processes such as embroidery, weaving, and knitting. As a college student she studied Sociology and Literature while helping her grandfather, a bookseller. His collection of books from the 16th to the 20th century instilled in her an interest in paper and printed text. She returned to live in the United States in 1987, fleeing the violence of the León Febres Cordero presidency, which persecuted young people through "arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, torture, sexual violence, and forced disappearances"