About Me & My Current Projects

My name is Marina Perez, I am a Nahua, Huichol, and Mexican cultural arts worker born and raised in Los Angeles with my traditional homelands in West Mexico.

I am a PhD student in Art History at the University of New Mexico (UNM). My academic and community work addresses the intersections of Native art, archives, and cultural knowledge production. My dissertation project is focused on developing an archive of community-based publications, newsletters and zines that highlight local New Mexico tribal histories, stories, and creative practices. 

My professional experience includes community arts and cultural programming across Los Angeles, CA and Albuquerque, NM. I have worked with organizations such as Meztli Projects, Justice For My Sister, Arts for Incarcerated Youth, and the Harwood Art Center, coordinating and facilitating programming in zine-making, beading, and filmmaking. I am currently working with the Native Curriculum Partnership at the Center for Regional Studies (UNM) to support the development of educational materials and short films that address the history of New Mexico's Native education system, food sovereignty initiatives and intergenerational tribal art traditions. 

​

I am a co-founder of Indigenous Honeys, a zine collective dedicated to highlighting the work of Indigenous people's experiences, histories, and stories. I also serve on the community board of ni de aquí ni de allá, a socially engaged community art space in Albuquerque. In collaboration with fellow UNM grad students, we are currently working on establishing a book distribution project to support literacy and educational access for incarcerated peoples in the state of New Mexico.