Formally trained as a painter, Blanka Amezkua’s multidisciplinary practice employs techniques often considered traditional or domestic – primarily embroidery and crochet – to address timely cultural, political, and gender issues.
Her current body of work explores the expanded possibilities of papel picado the paper-cutting tradition of her native Mexico. Crafted from handmade confetti, tissue paper, and quilling papers, the pieces featured in My Home Has Wings / Mi Casa Tiene Alas merge Amezkua’s training in painting with folk art traditions to create large-scale compositions that reproduce iconic landmarks, municipal seals, and agricultural goods that trace her passage across the U.S. – from California’s Central Valley to Buffalo, New York – as the child of migrant farm workers. Developed in collaboration with Puebla-based artisan Rene Mendoza, the work highlighted in My Home Has Wings provides testament to the fortitude of America’s migrant communities.
Blanka Amezkua is a Bronx-based artist currently in residence at the Bronx Museum’s AIM alumni residency program, and a 2008 alumna of the AIM fellowship program. Amezkua studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Fresno. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally including the San Diego Art Institute, California; Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Longwood Art Gallery, Bronx, New York; MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York; The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; and Queens Museum, New York, among others. She is initiator of AAA3A, an artist-run space located in Mott Haven, Bronx, that supports the visibility of Bronx-based artists through exhibitions, public programs, and communal meals.
To learn more about Blanka Amezku, please visit here.
The Block Gallery
80 White Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10013
Subways: 6/N/Q/R at Canal Street
Viewing Hours
From April 25, 2019 to May 18, 2019 as follows:
Wednesday-Friday: 12:00 p.m. – 05:00 p.m.
Saturdays: by appointment only
Contact: aim@bronxmuseum.org