Cristina Martinez Is Painting Her Roots Through Her Art

Artist Cristina Martinez often paints women. And personally, I’m always drawn to her women — wanting to know the stories behind them, whether they’re crying acrylic tears or chaotically applying lipstick . The “mess” in her art is often intentional, just as much as the joy or pain she illustrates in her work. Martinez is a Mexican and Black painter from Tacoma, Washington, whose work directly ties into her roots — the metaphoric roots of growing up with her Mexican mom, whose resilience throughout her life inspired her and the literal roots of nature she was surrounded by in the Pacific Northwest. “Every woman that I paint has a stem for a neck — that’s symbolic for me, a reminder that we are constantly growing and changing, and sometimes life feels like we’re wilting and sometimes lif