About the Artist

Mika Martinez

Mika is a visual storyteller with more than twenty years of experience. A self-taught artist who learned photography on the job and until 2019 worked with cameras gifted by those who saw their passion and potential. As a Queer Chingona and second-generation Mexican American, Mika is passionate about using photography to transform ideas of possibility by sharing and creating bold and authentic stories. They are most interested in using photography to create a broader representation of people and ideas that lack representation in media. They use collaborative projects to share authentic narratives that connect to their experiences, perceptions, and world observations. In this way, Mika aims to inspire a more inclusive world and to invite people to see themselves as valued and reflected in it. Striving to create through a lens of decolonization and recognizing their positionality as a creator, Mika takes the role of a conduit rather than an owner of the photos created and the knowledge gained. They are a changemaker, working to build a community of mindful and ethical storytellers that will change the world one story at a time.