09/01/2026
Recent Masters Artist Highlight: Mariana Ashley
Mariana received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Dakota concentrating in printmaking.
"My work reflects reconstruction, interruption, moments of crossing, processing, and living in transit. Through drawing, printmaking, and laser cutting, I reconstruct
fragments of my Chilean heritage and my journey to the United States. My identity is not fixed; it is continuously taken apart and put back together, negotiated between my South American origins and my life in the United States. I address the contradictions placed on immigrants, visible in work yet invisible in power.
The spaces I depict are ordinary, such as sinks, bulletin boards, and job sites, shaped by institutional and labor structures that regulate movement and belonging. I use these systems not to critique them but for their familiarity. The figures, physically removed from the surface, reflect dehumanization but also persistence, with their stories extending beyond the prints and embracing the borders. Positioned within oversized environments, they mirror the navigation of migrants through vast, unfamiliar systems. Rooted in the activist history of printmaking and inspired by José Guadalupe Posada, this body of work amplifies marginalized voices.
I aim to foster empathy, restore visibility, and question how visible and invisible borders shape our understanding of one another."
-Mariana Ashley Astete
