Steffanie Padilla is a Mexican-American artist based in Los Angeles, California. She holds a BFA in Photography from California State University of Long Beach and is currently a prospective MFA applicant.

“For the past three years, I have worked on an ongoing series titled Cruces, the name of a small rural pueblo located in Chihuahua, México where my mother was born and raised. Over the years, I have gradually become observant over how incredibly arbitrary and easily shaped an individuals developing identity can be based on his or her environment. With Cruces, I am interested in understanding identity as a concept and the various factors that influence it, specifically by media and cultural norms. Because nature and nurture determine key personal traits, physical and behavioral, my work investigates questions about my own world views by examining a space that has indirectly embedded itself into my existence.”

For more information on Steffanie’s work, visit her website.