“Martinez has a polyphonic approach to art practice, as he experiments with textile, installation, sculpture, community space, sound and ideas that extend beyond “art,” yet inherently connect it with politics and social reality.” – juror Megha Ralapati, Program Director, Fellowships, CEC ArtsLink.

Martinez’s art explores relationships produced by the built environment and the body’s experience of history. It is a material reflection of the potential for culture to enable critical inquiry and engender social change.

Born near an atomic blast crater in the New Mexico desert, Gabriel Martinez is an artist, writer, and performer living and working in Houston. He graduated with an MFA from Columbia University and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program before moving to Houston as a Museum of Fine Arts Core Fellow and artist-in-residence at Project Row Houses. He is the director of Alabama Song, an experimental arts space in Houston, founded in 2012.