Cherish Marquez (b.1989 El Paso, TX, USA) (she/they) is Latina and Queer identifying. She spent her childhood in Sierra Blanca, TX, and adult life in Las Cruces, NM. Currently, she lives and works in Denver, Colorado. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and Creative Writing at the New Mexico State University and an MFA in Emergent Digital Practices from the University of Denver. She is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on digital media that delves into science, theory, and research. She builds complex imaginary worlds through interactive animation and game design. Her work explores environmental justice, mysticism, mental health, queer identities, and healing from generational trauma. She puts marginalized experiences at the center of her work. She calls attention to issues of immigration and oppression by incorporating sociopolitical symbolism and the environment. Her work operates from a queer Latinx perspective and is heavily subjected to speculative futurism, which combines cultural practices of healing (Curanderismo) and technology to heal the earth of the trauma that technology has often caused (mining, nuclear power, etc.). She advocates against environmental racism and is inspired by the desert that she comes from. She combines the digital world with the physical world, often including handmade objects that act as interfaces to control the worlds she fabricates.
