Star Montana is a photo-based artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She was born and raised in the predominantly Mexican American neighborhood of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, which serves as the backdrop for much of her work. Montana’s images deal with class, social environment, and identity in terms of the personal, beginning with her family. Tear Drops and Three Dots is a long-term project that explores her family’s fragmented history, the ongoing burdens of mourning, and hope for the next generation, which she has exhibited at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and Vincent Price Art Museum in Monterey Park. Montana holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York (2013) and recently completed an MFA at the University of Southern California. During her residency at Los Angeles’ Main Museum, she began broadening these themes to include Los Angeles residents through portraiture and video. This work culminated in the show, I Dream of Los Angeles. She has lectured and exhibited extensively. Recent shows include Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, Texas), Corcoran School of Art and Design (Washington, DC), and Occidental College (Los Angeles). 

www.starmontana.net

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has constrained our ability to physically host artists in Syracuse, Light Work has responded innovatively to offer continued support in the form of remote residencies. The remote residency experience support artists in developing their artistic practice from their home or designated studio space. In addition to the stipend, artists will benefit from technical, professional, and creative support, as well as the extraordinary freedom to determine their own residency’s shape and timing. Our AIR participants can use their month to pursue their projects: photographing, scanning, printing, editing for book projects, and working closely with our staff for feedback and conversation.