Jackie Amézquita, a Los Angeles-based artist originally from Guatemala, has developed a unique brick-making process using soil and masa de maíz (corn dough) mixed with organic materials like blue pea flower, cocoa, cochineal, and charcoal to create vibrant, colorful bricks. Her work, including the 2023 installation *El suelo que nos alimenta* commissioned by the Hammer Museum for the Made in L.A. biennial, uses soil from each of LA's neighborhoods to explore themes of migration, memory, and colonial legacies. Amézquita's practice is deeply personal, drawing on her family's migration history—her mother moved from Guatemala in 1987, and her grandmother fled Mexico during the Cristero War—and her own eight-day walk from Tijuana to LA, during which she collected soil samples as an archive of memory.
This profile matters because it highlights Amézquita as a rising artist featured in ARTnews's 2025 "New Talent" issue, signaling her growing recognition in the contemporary art world. Her innovative use of biomaterials and soil as a medium for storytelling addresses urgent themes of displacement, erasure, and regeneration, especially resonant after the January wildfires in Los Angeles. By connecting personal history with broader narratives of migration and colonialism, Amézquita's work exemplifies how contemporary art can engage with social and political issues while pushing material boundaries.