Originally from Mexico City, Elizabeth Z. Pineda is a photographic emerging artist. Her work explores complicated issues regarding immigration, identity, displacement, and migrant deaths that occur in the Arizona desert. Pineda speaks visually of community, touching on language barriers, culture, and society. Her practice is rooted in handmaking as an expression of her deep ties to the subject matter using historic and untraditional photographic, printmaking, papermaking, and book art processes.
Pineda’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions nationally and published in Phoenix Transect.org, Femme Fotale, Vol. V: Resistance, Resilience, and Hope (January 2018) and The Experimental Darkroom: Contemporary Uses of Black & White Photographic Materials by Christina Z. Anderson (Focal Press, 2022). She was awarded the Pat Mutterer award at The Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art, 2023. Her work received winner and honorable mentions in the 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, honorable mentions in the 20th JMCAs, and in the 2022 Denis Roussel Award, her portfolio was named Outstanding Work by juror Christopher James. Her project, Maíz, was selected as Center’s 2023 Personal Award Recipient by juror Amanda Hajjar and selected as the inaugural recipient of the Jay and Susie Tyrrell Excellence in Works By Hand Award (visitcenter.org). She holds an MFA in Photography from Arizona State University and is a member of Undoc + Collective.
In addition to her studio practice, Pineda teaches photography as a faculty associate at Arizona State University and works in Library Information Services at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine. Elizabeth resides in Surprise, Arizona. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family and taking pictures while riding their Harley Davidson (as a passenger) with her husband.