Tanya Aguiñiga represents anyone who has ever felt like they belong to different cultures simultaneously. The San Diego-born artist of Mexican roots makes sculptures and art installations with fabrics and other craft materials, all with the intent of uniting her community. Her work has been key in highlighting the voices of transnational individuals, a community whose voices often go unheard.
Aguiñiga grew up crossing the border daily, from Tijuana to San Diego, for school. These experiences have shaped her approach to art and the kind of work she likes to create for other people. She holds an MFA in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA from San Diego State University.
© Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag"I tend to have a lot of failure, like every day. I like to let materials have their own free will. And so sometimes they just don’t want to do the things that I’m asking of them."
Tanya's identity has long played a part in her work, often blending her art with activism. She began her career as an artist at the Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo, an artist collective that made art addressing the US-Mexico border. She then ran a community center in Tijuana for six years, featuring various art initiatives that brought attention to the issues that plagued the community based on the border.
Tanya's art installations are made up of furniture and wearable designs, with her art form evolving over the years. While she began working with furniture, she ended up gravitating towards textiles and fabrics, preferring the freedom that these materials allowed. "In furniture design, there were a lot of hierarchies and a lot of barriers for people to access. I get really mad when something isn’t available to everybody," she said in an interview.
These looser fabrics, like cotton and wool, have allowed Tanya to incorporate her heritage in some of her work, utilizing techniques employed in Mesoamerican weaving.
© Getty Images for Disney
© Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagIn various of her art installations, she takes advantage of these spaces to connect with other artists and members of her community, often giving them a place to where they can highlight their work and share their perspectives.
Some of her art highlights include AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), a series of projects that showcase the work of binational artists. When discussing the inspiration behind this artwork, Tanya drew on the personal experience that she and many other transnationals experienced regularly. "I was thinking about crossing the border every day, and how stigmatizing it is to live in one country, go to work or go to school in another, when there’s so much racism against the place that you’re spending the night. You’re being interrogated every morning on your way to daily life," she said.
"I was trained from the age of 18 to about 26 in using art as a vehicle for community empowerment."
© Getty Images for DisneyTanya is one of the most renowned artists in the country. She is a United States Artists Target Fellow in the field of crafts and traditional arts, and a recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the Creative Capital grant, and more.
Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Annenberg Space for Photography and Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, and more.
