28th ANNUAL NO DEAD ARTISTS
International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art"First Saturdays" Opening Receptions - 7 September + 5 October 5-9 PM
September 3 – October 19, 2024
Artist Statement
Working with oil on canvas I address ongoing struggles of resistance pertaining to body and land
autonomy. My identity is tied to the diaspora and isthmus by my Guatemalan mother, Salvadoran
father, and Honduran great grandmother. I explore this identity in my work through themes of
intergenerational trauma and the complex issues concerning Central America and the Caribbean.
The inaccessible archives and outright absence of documentation that preceded my work
was a driving factor in my effort to assert Central American experiences via visual narrative. My
compositions feature friends and family that inspire me, from which I reference through photos I
have taken of them. My practice relies on bright hues to bolden the linear structure of the image
and create a stark contrast between the subject and its surroundings. My intention with this
technique is to honor my antecedents from prior generations by acknowledging both art and
familial history through an analytical perspective.
Although my first complete series focused on representation and visibility, my work has
since aimed to confront them from a different perspective. Drawing from the reality that
“Latinidad'' is not a monolith, my series Llámame Por Mi Nombre highlights the various
intersections of culture and identity within the isthmus. For this series, I conducted
accompanying video interviews of friends to reference. Moreover, my recent travels to
Honduras, Guatemala, and Cuba have shaped my practice as I consider land struggles,
LGBTQIA2S+ movements, and how the larger role of the artist is dependent on geopolitical
space. To that effect, I found transnational activist work to not only enrich my art, but also
prompt the critical work of self-reflection. My practice promotes communal healing, preserves
collective memory, and seeks to correspond with global catharsis within the art world.
Biography
Kiara Aileen Machado is a contemporary artist born in Lynwood, California who depicts and
explores the construction of identity, familial lineage, intergenerational trauma and culture in her
work. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing from California State
University Long Beach in 2018. Machado has worked on murals in border towns calling
attention to the violence these borders bring to communities, migration, and environment. The
murals have been between San Diego and Tijuana, Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora
Mexico; she also co-facilitated a community-based mural in Siguatepeque, Honduras and
recently completed a mural in El Monte through the summer of solidarity residency with
LAvsHate and MuralColors. Her artwork has been seen in museums and galleries across the
united states and has begun to show internationally including, Florence, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris,
and San Salvador. Her work has been acquired by Hood Museum and Ulrich Museum.
Curriculum Vitae
Born 1993 in Lynwood, California. Lives and works in San Gabriel Valley.
Education
2018 BFA Drawing & Painting, California State Long Beach, Long Beach
2015 Associates of Psychology, Fine and Performing Arts, Liberal Arts:
Social & Behavioral Sciences, Biological/Physical Sciences/
Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences degree, Citrus
Community College, Glendora
Selected Scholarships & Awards
2023 Certificate from County of Los Angeles Commission on Human
Relations
2022 Certificate of Appreciation from the City of South Gate
2021 Dash grant
2020 NOT REAL ART Grant
2019 Certification of Recognition by California State Senate, Salvies Who
Lunch Chevere
2017 Linda A. Day Endowed Student Award
Selected Solo Show
2024 Munzón Gallery, Hija del Istmo, Long Beach, CA
2023 Buckham Gallery, Llamáme Por Mi Nombre, Flint, MI
2023 Oak Room Gallery, ahí les mando saludos, Greeley, CO
2023 LAUNCH LA & Luna Anaïs gallery, Refugio en las Flores, Los
Angeles, CA
2020 Acción Latina Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, Diario Entrada 1, San
Francisco, CA
Selected Group Exhibition History
2024 Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Seeing Each Other: Portraits
in Time and Place, Dekalb, IL
2024 Irvine Fine Arts Center, All Media 2024, Irvine, CA
2024 Rod Briggs Memorial Gallery, In Color, Long Beach, CA
2024 Thinkspace Gallery, A Better Tomorrow, Los Angeles, CA
2023 Munzón Gallery, SA II LA, Long Beach, CA
2023 Arts At Blue Roof, Después De La Lluvia/After The Rain, Los
Angeles, CA
2023 Marks Art Center, RAIZ II, Palm Desert, CA
2023 Usdan Gallery, Connected Diaspora: U.S. Central American Visuality
in the Age of Socail Media, Bennington, VT
2023 Hiestand Gallery, Young Painters Competition, Oxford, OH
2023 Centro Cultural de España, CONS-TELAR, San Salvador, El
Salvador
2023 Tlaloc Studios & Superchief Gallery, Demasiado, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Motherling, L.A to S.A., San Antonio, TX
2022 Open Gallery, Reflections, Long Beach, CA
2022 Goethe-Institut, Encuentros: Encounters, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Carrousel du Louvre, Focus Art Fair, Paris, France
2022 Kühlhaus, Evanescence, Berlin, Germany
2022 Das Institut, In Perspective, Berlin, Germany
2022 DSW Headquarters, In The Paint Traveling Exhibition, Frankfurt,
Germany
2022 Buckham Gallery, BIPOC is the Theme!, Flint, MI
2022 Lakers’ UCLA Health Training Center, In The Paint, El Segundo, CA
2022 San Diego Museum of Art, Artists Guild Spring Exhibition, San
Diego, CA
2022 South Gate Museum, Cuídate Take Care of Yourself, South Gate, CA
2021 Irvine Fine Arts Center, MANOS, Irvine, CA
2021 Brand Library & Art Center, BRAND 49-49th Annual National Juried
Exhibition of Works on Paper, Glendale, CA
2021 Dupont Underground, Somewhere Between, Washington, DC
2021 John and Geraldine Lilley Museum, EN MEDIO | Senses of
Migration, Reno, NV
2021 Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), Immi’Art, La Fayette Park Place, Los
Angeles, CA
2021 SOMArts, CARAVANA: Mobilizing Central American Art (1984-
Present), San Francisco, CA
2021 Virtual show hosted by UNICA from UCLA, Counterspaces: Healing
in Resistance, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Stamp Gallery, University of Maryland, Connected Diaspora: U.S
Central American Visuality in the Age of Social Media, College Park,
MD
2020 Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Bloom & Grow: Brilliant
Botanicals, Solomons, MD
2020 Fowler Museum Terrace, UCLA, Central American Counterspaces:
Intergenerational Resilience, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Frederic Jameson Gallery Duke University, Connected Diaspora: U.S
Central American Visuality in the Age of Social Media, Durham, NC
2019 UCF Art Gallery, Coalesce, Orlando, FL
2019 Irvine Fine Arts Center, All Media 2019, Irvine, CA
2019 Angel Gates Cultural Center, Ganas de Existir! San Pedro, CA
2019 The Montalban, A Feminist Perspective, Hollywood, CA
2019 Art Share L.A., Art Share All Stars, Los Angeles
2018 72 and Sunny, PIALLI, Playa Vista, CA
2018 Art Share L.A., Protest, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Via G. Leopardi 12, Art Without Borders, Florence, Italy
2018 University Art Museum, Insights, Long Beach, CA
2018 Dutzi Gallery, Quiubo Maje, Long Beach, CA
Curated Exhibitions
2022 Goethe-Institut, Encuentros: Encounters, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Arts & Recreation Center, Identity, Baldwin Park, CA
2017 Arts & Recreation Center, Life and Death, Baldwin Park, CA
Selected Commissions
2024 Cover Artwork for Central American Counterpoetics by Karina Alma
(UAPress, 2024)
2023 Mural with Red Comal in Siguatepeque, Honduras
2023 “Come Walk With Me” mural with LAvsHate & Mural Colors, El
Monte, CA
2022 Cover artwork for LANDSMODER by Elena Salamanca
2021 Say Their Names Mural at Camino Nuevo, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Cover artwork for NACLA Winter Issue
2020 Cover artwork for Lineage of Rain by Janel Pineda (Haymarket
Books, 2020)
2020 Mural at Camino Nuevo, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Mural at Lynwood Middle School, Lynwood, CA
Selected Publications and Interviews
2024 Dr. Mauricio Ramirez, “ Kiara Aileen Machado: Exploring Central
American Heritage in Visual Art,” ArteMancer: Latinx Art and Culture
Podcast
2023 Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House, “Part II: Carpool Community
Engagement-How Civil Society Shapes LA’s Neighborhoods,”
YouTube
2023 Tony Morales, “How Visual Artist Kiara Aileen Machado has Grown
Into Art,” There Radio podcast
2021 Angel City FC, Community Voices: Heritage, Culture, Identity- Episode
2:Kiara Aileen Machado, Angel City FC Street
2020 Sandy Saravia, “The Artistic Expression of Central American Resistance
& Resilience,” BESE
2021 Monti Rossetti and Fátima Ramírez, “CARAVANA-Meet The Artists,”
Radio Teco
2020 Wanda Hernández, “Artist Panel Talk: Beatriz Cortez, Muriel Hasbun,
and Kiara Machado,” Casa De La Cultura El Salvador
2020 Elissa Jimenéz, “Central American resilience, identity explored in latest
exhibit,” El Tecolote
2020 Daniel Roma, “The Birds and the Border,” East Bay Express
2019 Sarah Al-Mulla, “Ganas De Existir! AGCC Interview, Kiara Machado”
AGCC Interview (Youtube)
2018 Sarah Duenas, “Artistic Identity,” Dig Mag
Affiliations
2022 SOA Watch Artist Collective
2020 Member of Quetzal Migrante collective
Residency & Delegation
2024 Art & Revolution delegation in Cuba
2024 Gracia artist residency in Antigua, Guatemala
2023 Healing our land, healing ourselves delegation in Cuba
2023 Summer of Solidarity, LAvsHATE mural with Mural Colors
2023 Cuerpo Territorio Delegation in Honduras
2022 CSU Summer Arts- Berlin
2018 CSU Summer Arts-Florence