A Background

Sarah Isela Aguilar (b. El Paso, TX) received her BFA from The University of Texas at El Paso (2019) and her MFA from the University of Illinois Chicago (2024). She currently lives and works in Chicago, and continues to return to the star on the mountain.

Sarah is a

drawer- who traces

drawer- who holds

drawer- who pulls

drawer- who lengthens

A Statement

I make drawings, texts, and photographic structures that shift with light, movement, and translation. Meaning fractures, overlaps, and remains translucent. The images and writing shift with the viewer's position and movement, creating conditions where perception is delayed and fragmented.

Por el techo can be translated as through the roof, by the roof, for the roof, and because of the roof. These thresholds arrive and depart from the same words. Each shift carries evidence of where it was before.

The resulting drawings are layered and burnished graphite, producing surfaces that hold both the darkest and brightest points. As light and viewers move, what they see shifts. A single drawing becomes plural.

This is how the work holds memory, identity, and place in motion.

There is no beginning, middle, or end to these attempts at navigation. Only a place of entry.