Jennifer Teresa Villanueva is a Mexican American artist born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, whose practice examines memory, migration, and the emotional residue of immigrant life in the United States. The daughter of Mexican immigrant factory workers, her understanding of home has been shaped by labor, sacrifice, and interdependence, which continue to force the anchor in her work. Through photography, silkscreen, and cyanotype, she constructs materially layered images that mirror the complexity of family history, where personal memory and public systems converge.
Villanueva holds a BFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2020) and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2023). She was a 2025 AIM Fellow at The Bronx Museum of the Arts and has participated in the SOMA Summer program in Mexico City and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program as an Elaine G. Weitzen Fellow.
Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions, including the Bronx Biennial, and has been featured in publications such as The New York Times. She has received support from En Foco, Aperture Creator Labs, the Rauschenberg Artist Fund, and the Chicago Artist Coalition. Villanueva has exhibited in group exhibitions and institutional programs focused on contemporary photography and socially engaged practices.
In addition to her studio practice, she has developed community-centered workshops exploring photography, archives, and intergenerational storytelling. These programs reflect her commitment to using visual art as a means of preserving memory, fostering dialogue, and creating space for immigrant narratives.
Portrait by Argenis Apolinario