Martín Wannam 

“A veces perder es ganar y no encontrar lo que se busca es encontrarse.” Alejandro J.

Martín Wannam (b. 1992, Guatemala) is visual artist and educator whose work offers a critical exploration of his homeland's historical, social, and political landscape within a cuir viewpoint. With an equatorial perspective that intersects brownness and wildness, Wannam's iconoclastic and maximalist approach challenges mainstream narratives through photography, sculpture, and performance art. His multidisciplinary practice examines the impacts of immigration, systemic structures, utopian ideals, and family on both individual and collective levels. Wannam's dissident perspectives and commitment to freedom dreaming for the cuir individual are deeply rooted in his Guatemalan heritage. 

Wannam's visual language draws from traditional Guatemalan cultural imagery and contemporary cuir aesthetics, creating a visual dialogue that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries. Through his practice, he interrogates notions of belonging, identity formation, and the politics of visibility for marginalized communities. 

He earned an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico (2020), a Diploma in Contemporary Photography from La Fototeca, Guatemala (2016), and a BA in Graphic Design from Universidad Rafael Landivar (2015). His work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally, including at The Latinxs Project at NYU, Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center (Chicago), El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (Panama), Houston Art League, Project Row House (TX), and the XXIII & XXIV Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala City. He has also showcased his artworks at Photo Pride & Rotterdam Photo in the Netherlands. The residencies he attended include MASS MoCA in North Adams, The Santa Fe Art Institute in NM, and Radicle Residency at Basement in Chapel Hill, among others.

Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in Studio Art at UNC Chapel Hill and part of Fronteristxs & Becoming Sticky Collective.

martinwannam@gmail.com