Matthew Villarreal is an artist, community advocate, and educator from El Paso, TX, with over 16 years of experience working with students from marginalized backgrounds and first-generation college students. Matthew is currently an Assistant Professor of Art, Design, and Social Justice and an Assistant Dean for Art and Design education at Parsons School of Design. Before joining Parsons in 2019, Matthew worked as a high school teacher and college-access administrator in various titles in El Paso, TX schools. His creative practice blends pedagogy, artmaking, and activism, centering the building of space for whole communities to deepen community confidence and creative capacity via workshops, exhibitions, and exchanges. Matthew is a current AICAD BIPOC Academic Leadership Institute Fellow, a 2022-23 AAM Museum Education Fellow, and most recently exhibited work during fashion week Brooklyn, winter 2023.

In this exhibition, Matthew's work features an array of unconventional materials including laser-etched nopales, modified flags, hand-dyed fabric, masa migajon sculptures, and assemblage. These materials are nods to cultural and mythological icons, Gods, and Goddesses; all used as grandiose characters and symbols in a quirky retelling of humanity's origin story and the intricate tension and dis/connection between body, sky, and earth.