Sandra Monterroso began her artistic career in performance art in 1999. She earned a B.A. in Graphic Design in 2001 followed by an M.A. in Design from Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) in Puebla, Mexico. In 2020, Monterroso earned a PhD in Art Practice from the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien in Vienna, Austria. She has represented Guatemala in more than twelve biennials, including the 56th La Biennale di Venezia, the 12 Bienal de La Habana, and the Frestas - Trienal de Artes in São Paulo. Monterroso lives and works in Guatemala City.
In her work, Monterroso explores the dynamics of indigenous culture in the postcolonial era, gender issues, and other constructs of power across media including tapestry, painting, video, installation, and performance. Her influences include Cindy Sherman (USA), Gina Pane (France), Carolee Schneemann (USA), Ana Mendieta (Cuba), and Marina Abramović (Serbia), as she explores issues of identity and relational dynamics between genders and cultures. As Monterroso explains, “Behind the silence and the paradox of modernity and coloniality, I start taking as a symbolic reference more particularly the Mayan Q’eqchi’ language as an inheritance from mygrandmother, whose linguistic structure is completely metaphorical.”
Monterroso has shown her work in selected exhibitions around the world, including the Bienal de Artes Visuales del Istmo Centroamericano (BAVIC), Museo de Arte de El Salvador (Museo MARTE), San Salvador, El Salvador (2006); Indigenous Voices, La Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione America Latina-IILA, Venice, Italy (2015); Art-Action Feministe: Panorama de la vidéo-performance féministe contemporaine latino- américaine, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2009); Cosmópolis II, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2019); To Weave in Blue, Poema al Tejido, The Martha and Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art, University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA (2020); and Visionarios, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain (2009).
Monterroso’s work is included in the permanent collections of Centro de Arte Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián, Managua, Nicaragua; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Colchester, England; Fundación Paiz, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC), San José, Costa Rica; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain; YES Contemporary, Miami, Florida; and many private collections.
