Biography 

Monica Mercedes Martínez (born 1974, Chile) 

Monica Mercedes Martínez is a Chilean-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Edmonton, Alberta. She holds a bachelor of fine arts from Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary and a master of fine arts from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. She was the recipient of the 2013 RCB Emerging Artist Peoples Choice Award. She is part of the Constelaciones artist collective, which has been part of residency and presentations. The collective’s performance artwork is part of the book Craft Is Political, a compilation of 16 essays edited by D. Wood and published in 2021. 

Monica Mercedes Martínez’s studio work uses ceramic intervention and performances with ceramics to reflect the historical basis of belonging to the land. Monica’s work has been showcased in the collective exhibitions Mujer Artista: the cure / la cura (2022) at Ace Art Inc. in Winnipeg and En Route: Sculptural Ceramics and Glass Emerging from Manitoba, curated by Sheila McMath and Grace Nickel (2019) at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario, and Play, Precarity and Survival curated by Sigrid Dahle (2016) at the Glen P. Sutherland Gallery of Art at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba.