Nepantla

MFA Thesis Exhibition

by Sofia Aguilar

Exhibition: April 7 - 11, 2026

Reception: Friday, April 10th, 6-8p

An exploration of living between cultures, Nepantla weaves together memory, myth, and lived experience to make the in-between visible.

Nepantla takes its name from a Nahuatl word meaning “in-between,” a space of transition and becoming that reflects my experience as a second-generation Mexican American navigating cultures, languages, and geographies. Raised within oral traditions and stories from my grandparents, I first understood Mexico as something carried inside the home; later travels to Mexico and an artist residency in the Netherlands expanded that understanding, deepening my awareness of hybridity and adaptation. Through printmaking, painting, and paper weaving, I build a vibrant visual language rooted in heritage and layered iconography, with woven works acting as metaphors for cultural transmission—interlaced, frayed, and resilient. Recurring figures such as the Tecuan from traditional dance and my skeletal cowgirl, inspired by Mexica cosmology, inhabit contemporary settings, collapsing temporal boundaries so that ancestral histories and present realities coexist, woven together in an ongoing search for belonging.

More About Sofia

Sofia Aguilar is a Mexican-American artist working in printmaking, painting, and paper weaving. As a second-generation Mexican American raised among two older generations, she explores what it means to carry a homeland within a home. Her vibrant compositions draw from Mexica iconography, folklore, and contemporary culture, blending carved lines, layered textures, and woven forms to celebrate cultural memory, duality, and bicultural identity.

Learn more about Sofia: www.dvyf1y.com  | IG: @dvyf1y