Meet the Artist: Graciela DeAnda
A backpack. A piece of clothing. An old photograph. A familiar voice captured in a recording.
Objects that may seem ordinary can carry extraordinary amounts of memory.
For interdisciplinary artist and emerging documentary filmmaker Graciela DeAnda, these everyday materials become vessels for telling deeply personal stories about migration, family, identity and belonging.
DeAnda, who is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will be one of the artists featured at the Columbus Art Gallery during Fall for the Arts on Saturday, September 19.
Working across photography, film, sound, sculpture and installation, DeAnda creates immersive experiences that invite viewers to think about migration not simply as a political or historical subject, but as something deeply human — shaped by family, memory, sacrifice, faith, loss and resilience.
Stories Rooted in Family and Experience
Born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Mexican immigrant parents, DeAnda draws from personal and family histories while also collaborating with immigrant communities to preserve stories that can too easily be overlooked, simplified or forgotten.
Their work considers the ways memories are carried with us — sometimes through stories and photographs, but also through our bodies and the objects we keep.
Backpacks, clothing, textiles, photographs, recorded voices and natural materials all find their way into DeAnda’s work.
Each can become a connection to a person, place or experience.
“I am interested in how memory lives within the body, personal belongings, and everyday materials,” DeAnda explains in their artist statement.
By bringing those elements together through multimedia installations, DeAnda creates spaces where visitors can encounter individual stories while also considering the larger experiences of migration and belonging.
Making Migration Personal
Migration is often discussed through numbers, policies and headlines. DeAnda’s work deliberately brings the focus back to people.
Through storytelling and collaboration, they explore the individual experiences contained within much larger conversations about immigration.
Their work examines movement and displacement, but it also considers what people carry with them — memories of home, family traditions, faith, personal belongings, loss and the hope of building something new.
“Through each project, I seek to honor the complexity of immigrant lives and create spaces where personal and collective histories can be remembered, shared, and preserved,” DeAnda says.
That commitment to care and collaboration is an important part of their artistic practice. Rather than simply telling someone else’s story, DeAnda works alongside immigrant communities to create projects that preserve experiences in ways that are personal, layered and authentic.
An Emerging Voice in Documentary and Multimedia Art
In 2026, DeAnda earned a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, further developing a practice that crosses traditional boundaries between visual art and documentary storytelling.
Their work has been exhibited at the Rochester Art Center, Rosalux Gallery, Form+Content Gallery, Calendula Gallery and the OH Art Foundation.
Also in 2026, DeAnda received the Van Derlip Award and began a year-long residency at Second Shift Studio in Minneapolis.
During the residency, they are continuing to develop collaborative projects with immigrant communities through documentary filmmaking and multimedia installation.
It is work that asks audiences to do more than observe.
It asks them to listen.
To remember.
And perhaps most importantly, to recognize the individual lives and stories behind experiences that can sometimes feel distant from our own.
See Graciela DeAnda at Fall for the Arts
Visitors will have the opportunity to experience DeAnda’s work at the Columbus Art Gallery during Fall for the Arts on Saturday, September 19.
DeAnda will be featured at the gallery alongside fellow artists Eduardo Gardea and Oria Simonini, bringing together three distinctive artistic practices that explore people, culture, identity and belonging.
Fall for the Arts runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout downtown Columbus, with visual artists featured at participating locations and musicians and performers appearing at scheduled times throughout the day.
The event is free and family-friendly and helps raise awareness and support for the Downtown Theatre restoration project.
Visit the Columbus Art Gallery during Fall for the Arts and spend some time with Graciela DeAnda’s work — and with the memories, voices and stories their art helps preserve.
Originally posted by Fall for the Arts via Locable