Snapshot
Shizu Saldamando’s art explores identity and subcultures through intimate depictions of her friends at backyard parties, dance clubs, music shows, hangout spots, and art receptions. Her work challenges social and artistic norms by spotlighting overlooked lives and examining how language, fashion, and memory shape culture. “A lot of what I try to capture,” she says, “are different subcultures or scenes in which people have created their own world outside of larger alienating constructs.”
Born to parents of Japanese and Mexican descent, Saldamando grew up in San Francisco and now resides in Los Angeles. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. Saldamando has worked in media ranging from drawing and printmaking to video, installation, and performance art. She is known for her work merging painting and collage (often using origami paper) and has a flourishing tattoo practice, specializing in portrait tattoos.
Her silkscreen Snapshot is featured in Chicano/a/x Prints and Graphics: Selections from the Hispanic Research Center’s Collection, 1980–2010, an exhibition at the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, running from July 13, 2024, through June 29, 2025. From portraiture to politicized pop, the works on display focus on themes of migration, identity construction, and place. The exhibition is a testament to the enduring and innovative graphic tradition of Chicano/a/x artists, and a reflection of the depth and complexity of cultural narratives of Mexican Americans in the United States.