Cristina Cardenas
Cristina Cardenas, born in 1957 in Guadalajara, Mexico, is a painter, printmaker, and lithographer who celebrates Mexican culture. Her art often aims to empower women. She moved to Tucson, Arizona, in the United States and earned a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Arizona in 1990. She works with paintings, lithographs, prints, and murals, and she teaches at Pima Community College while also working with children at a nearby charter school.
Her notable works include Malinche, Coatlicue, y Virgen de los Remedios (1991), a mixed-media painting shown in Counter Colonialismo. The piece depicts Malintzin in front of Coatlicue with La Virgen de los Remedios nearby, and includes the Spanish text “Malintzin, noble y inteligente mujer indígena,” translated as “Malintzin, noble and intelligent Indigenous woman.” The work highlights Coatlicue’s influence on Malintzin and the religion imposed on her.
Another work is La Nina de los Espejos (2005), a lithograph at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, part of the Unapologetic: All Women, All Year exhibition. It features a girl with long black hair and explores the strength of women.
Her 2004 print Graciela is in the Self-Help Graphics & Art collection at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Her work is in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art, the McNay Art Museum, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, among others.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:19 (CET).