Jesus Miguel Avena is a Artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I am a Mestizo painter and ceramicist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. My work navigates the complexity of identity through the lens of Nepantla—the transformative space of in-betweenness rooted in Chicano/a/x thought. I draw on my lived experience as a Mestizo person born in the United States and use visual storytelling to explore the internal and external tensions between Indigeneity, colonial histories, and cultural hybridity.
Through my practice, I aim to reimagine personal and collective narratives that have been historically marginalized or erased. My figures, forms, and compositions are conduits for dialogue—between the past and present, the sacred and the mundane, and the seen and unseen. I create visual languages that are poetic, political, and deeply rooted in place.