Originally from Mexico City, Elizabeth Z. Pineda is an emerging multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Surprise, AZ. 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, employing historical and nontraditional processes in photography, printmaking, papermaking, and book arts.
Pineda’s work has been shown in multiple solo and group exhibitions. Selections include El Sueño Americano / The American Dream, Maltz Museum, Beachwood, OH (09/2025-02/2026); 2024 Arizona Artist Awards, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ (07/2025-01/2026); Many Lives, One Community, Arizona Capitol Museum, Phoenix, AZ (2025); Sin Nombre en Esta Tierra Sagrada, Northlight Gallery, Phoenix, AZ (2023). Publications include: (In)visibility: Aesthetics of Undocumentedness (Fowler Museum at UCLA, March 2026); Review Santa Fe: Sin Nombre en Esta Tierra Sagrada, Lenscratch (2026); The World of Photography 2, Mediterranean House of Photography, (Fotonostrum Publishing, 2024); The Experimental Darkroom: Contemporary Uses of Black & White Photographic Materials by Christina Z. Anderson(Focal Press, 2022).
Pineda is an Arizona Nominee - Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolution, National Museum of Women in the Arts (2025), and one of two recipients of Phoenix Art Museum’s 2024 Sally and Richard Lehmann Emerging Artist Awards (2024). Further awards and recognitions include: CENTER’s 2023 Personal Award by juror Amanda Hajjar for her project, Maíz (visitcenter.org, 2023); Inaugural Jay and Susie Tyrrell Excellence in Works By Hand Award (visitcenter.org, 2023); Pat Mutterer award, Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art (2023); honorable mentions, 22nd and 20th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (2024, 2023); winner and honorable mentions, 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (2022); Maíz was named Outstanding Work by juror Christopher James, Denis Roussel Award (2022).
Pineda holds an MFA from Arizona State University and is a member of Undoc + Collective.