Marcelo Eli Sarmiento

Marcelo Eli Sarmiento (b. 1989, Chicago) is an American artist whose work bridges the contemporary and ancestral, drawing deeply from his Mexican and Ecuadorian heritage. Grounded in pre-Columbian cosmology, symbolism, and mythology, his practice reimagines these traditions through a deeply personal lens, exploring the intersections of culture, identity, and collective memory.

As a first-generation American, Marcelo’s paintings serve as a space to navigate the complexities of belonging. Grappling with the tension of not being “enough”—not Indigenous enough, not American enough, not European enough—his work reflects his journey of self-discovery. Through painting, Marcelo confronts and reconciles these layered nuances of identity, using the creative process to explore his roots and histories in ways that are both introspective and transformative. Rather than claiming representation of Indigenous cultures, his work seeks to honor his heritage while inviting broader conversations about how personal histories are shaped by cultural displacement and inherited memory.

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Website: https://www.heamikim.net

Social Media: @marceloelistudio