Born and raised in South Texas, Tamara Becerra Valdez is an artist who works at the intersection of archives, oral histories, material studies, and ecology. Tamara's sculptures and relief works require slow, meticulous processes of hand fabrication and technique. She frequently works with discarded materials to comment on legacy and loss, from family histories to ecological devastation. She has participated as an artist and researcher in national and international multidisciplinary projects focused on art and ecology, including: Political Ecology: Platform Chicago, City of Chicago Park District; Tender House Project, Mississippi Arts Commission; The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; and the working groups: The Anthropocene Campus and The Whole Life Academy as part of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin.
Tamara has held residencies at ACRE Projects, Human Sciences, and the BOLT Residency at Chicago Artists Coalition. Her work has been exhibited by Gallery 400, Comfort Station, Apparatus Projects, Chicago Artists Coalition, Hyde Park Art Center, and the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas. She holds an MFA from the University of Illinois Chicago. Tamara is also an avid gardener, seed saver, and environmentalist.
