The work of Gloria Martinez-Granados
@borderlesscreative
“Bracero: El Retrato de Francisco Beltran-Acevedo”
Cross-Stitch on produce bags
2025
Gloria was born in Guanajuato, Mexico where she spent her early childhood, before her family relocated to south Phoenix at the age of 8. She is a multidisciplinary artist who works currently by way of cross stitching specific imagery on repurposed materials.
Her work is extremely powerful in process, narrative, and execution. She weaves in layers of not only material, but personal story with purpose.
Gloria herself navigates with an “undocumented” status. However, she redirects the focus of the finished work to transcend all labels and boundaries by channeling ancestral memory, family, & connection to land. In her work she creates the essence of what it means to be a Human Being through complex and beautiful layers.
From Nancy, granddaughter of Francisco Beltran Acevedo:
“Meet my grandfather, Francisco Beltrán Acevedo, from Zacatecas, México.
During World War II, the United States created the Bracero Program (1942-1964) to recruit Mexican men to fill labor shortages, especially in agriculture. My grandfather was one of them. He worked with horses on a farm in Scottsdale, Arizona. Like millions of other Braceros, his hands built and sustained this country, yet too often, their dignity and humanity were overlooked.
The photograph I hold of him is powerful: standing tall on a motorcycle, proud and strong. When I learned Gloria Martínez-Granados
@borderlesscreative was working on a project honoring Braceros, shared this image with her. She transformed it into something monumental, an image of an image, stitched into being with patience and care. Through fabric and thread, Gloria bridges past and present, reminding us that our family stories are not just history, they are living archives of dignity and resilience.
It’s a reminder that the Braceros were not just workers, they were fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and sons whose stories deserve to be remembered and honored.”
#artwork #contemparyart #phxart
