Marcel Pardo Ariza

So excited to be part of @cultured_mag ’s ‘Mundo Makers’ a series featuring 6 latinx artists working and living in the US. 💫✨💫 Read the full article and watch the video in my bio! Thanks for including me and writing about my practice César García-Álvarez @tmrcesar ✨💫 and thank you to the cultured mag team! Photos by @jasonsutherlandhsu #CULTUREDxBR #latinxheritagemonth #translatinxartist #transart #latinxartist #marcelpardoariza #studio45bayarea

🙌🏽wow. Thank you to every single person that came to the opening of AFTER TOUCH 💐💕 the exhibition is open through Oct 23 @ochiprojectsla ! They are open Wed-Sat 12-5pm. Stop by cuties ✨🌞✨ Image by @docu_la 🙌🏽

OCHI is pleased to announce the acquisition of Marcel Pardo Ariza’s I am Very Lucky, Very Lucky to be Trans, 2022 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The work was featured in the 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition on view at SFMoMA from December 17, 2022 – May 29, 2023. I Am Very Lucky, Very Lucky to Be Trans (2022) is a large-scale photo montage and installation that appropriates the form of religious polyptychs—multi-panel, dimensional paintings often designed as altarpieces in churches and cathedrals. Prevalent in the early Renaissance, polyptychs combine elements of architecture, portraiture, and narrative painting, allowing for fragmented views of time, space, and myth that ultimately contribute to a larger whole. In a gesture that honors the past while breaking the rules, Pardo Ariza reconfigures the polyptych as a lens with which to view contemporary trans icons. Featuring portraits of thirty-three Bay Area trans, intersex, and gender-nonconforming activists and cultural leaders who are at the forefront of revolutionary advocacy, I Am Very Lucky, Very Lucky to Be Trans transforms one room within the museum into a queer space of worship. SFMoMA is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. OCHI sends our heartfelt thanks to the donors who made this possible, and the entire team at SFMoMA. @sfmoma Portraits: @lanapatelxoxo @anjalirimi @jupiterperaza @aubreymfdavis @honeymahogany

My trans sister @jupiterperaza 🏳️‍⚧️💖 is an amazing activist in the Bay and she needs our support right now! ✨ Her DACA renewal has been delayed, and she’s suddenly been left unable to work.  She has been out here doing the real work, showing up, uplifting, and supporting our SF trans community 🏳️‍⚧️🌈💫 in ways that truly make a difference. It’s our turn to show up for her! 💗 We’re having a fundraiser to support her while she awaits that renewal 🫶🏽✨ If you’re in the Bay Area please come through to @motherbarsf on Tuesday, April 28th at 6pm. Or if you have some funds to give, there’s a GoFundMe in my bio where you can donate directly too 💸💞 Let’s show up for our favorite diva!!! 👑✨🏳️‍⚧️

OMG!!! I’m so incredibly honored and humbled to be a 2026 San Francisco Pride Grand Marshal 😭🏳️‍⚧️✨ @sanfranciscopride I moved to San Francisco 12 years ago, and this city gave me a whole constellation of queer and trans people who have shaped me and the way I see the world. Being named Grand Marshal doesn’t feel like standing alone, it feels like carrying and celebrating that constellation with me. 🌟🌺🌸🌼🌻💐 Thank you to every sweet person I’ve met during my time in this city—everyone who has inspired me, supported me, and been part of this journey. I’m very grateful to all of you 💗 As a Colombian trans migrant, living in this wild moment, this recognition feels like a collective encouragement to keep uplifting one another and fighting for our right to exist and thrive. If anything, it pushes me to be even bolder, louder, and prouder. So grateful for this beautiful community 💖🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

It has been 5 years since I first met mi rey!💘 I’m so grateful for you and this hot, special love 😍 This t4t love is a practice of care and getting to know each other again and again. I’ve loved getting to know all your iterations, and I’m excited for all the ones to come! ❤️‍🔥✨😈 Thank you for holding the tender moments softly and the exciting moments playfully! I feel so lucky to grow and learn and play together in this wild world 🌊🌌. Te amo mucho bebesote, the most handsome, talented bichote @salimatuamabebe 💋❣️💋❣️💐 . #t4t #translove #transisbeautiful

🩵 Today is Trans Day of Visibility 🏳️‍⚧️🫡 This is a self-portrait I took in @fireislandresidency And it is currently on view @museodeantioquia in my home country Colombia 🤭🇨🇴 (Thanks @julisantaputricia ❣️) through April 12. At a moment of relentless attacks against the trans community, I’m doubling down on my right, and our right, to exist. When I first started transitioning, I struggled to find images that reflected bodies like mine. In art history classes, I was never taught about trans artists, or even Latin American artists. That absence is and was so real. So making images like this matters to me. Claiming pleasure, confidence, and visibility in my own body feels political. Today I feel proud of how far I’ve come. I feel happier in my body than ever before, and I’m so proud of who I am 💖 More than anything, I feel deeply committed to uplifting my trans community, I’m grateful for all of you because we are here and we keep spreading our magic everywhere despite all the hate. I know it’s hard to wake up to the news these days. It’s painful to feel like you’re being attacked simply for being yourself. But there is power in being visible. There is power in loving our bodies and our lives despite it all. Sending love to trans people everywhere, today and always 🏳️‍⚧️❤️‍🔥 we are sexy and hot AF bbs 💋 . . . #transisbeautiful #transjoy #transrest #topsurgery #transmasc

💛 También hay historias donde nunca hubo que esconderse. 🎙️ En este nuevo episodio de MdeA Señal 360 abrimos los micrófonos para conversar con el artista Marcel Pardo Ariza (@marcelpardoa ), quien hace parte de la exposición 𝐃𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝑸𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍. Junto a la curadora Juli Zapata Rincón (@julisantaputricia ), nos adentramos en su proceso creativo a través de la fotografía, donde explora las relaciones familiares y el profundo apoyo que ha marcado su camino de transición y afirmación de género. Una historia poderosa que nos recuerda que el acompañamiento puede transformar vidas. Te invitamos a visitar la exposición, en sala hasta el 12 de abril. 🗓️ Escúchalo este domingo en Spotify y YouTube. 🔗 Encuentra el episodio en el link de nuestra bio. Apoya: @fundacionsura Este videopodcast es realizado con el apoyo de Cámara de Comercio de Medellín @camarafm

SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING NEXT WEEK 🌎 SF ➡️ NYC ➡️ MEDELLÍN let’s gooooooo 🗽✈️🇨🇴 COME THRU IF YOU’RE AROUND 💥💥💥 Would love to see you! UPCOMING EVENTS: 🔹 TALK at BARD COLLEGE, NY 📅 March 24, 5PM 📍 CCS Bard (Room 102) I’ll be in conversation with @transhuman404 and @arthandlxrs as part of a series by @forgeprojectny + @ccsbard 💬 Huge thank you @candicebhopkins and the team for the invitation ✨ 🔹 ART HANDLXRS NYC BOOK LAUNCH 📖 📅 March 25 📍 @beverlysnyc (297 Grand St) 🕔 Doors 5PM 🗣️ Talk 6PM 🎶 Music 7PM by @xtok.iox Featuring: @theladyarthandler , @naojgreene , @kamalnassif In conversation with me + @transhuman404 . Designed by @jorgegonzalez 🔹 MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA 🇨🇴🔥 @travarlasartes6 Honored to be have been invited to this powerful trans festival 🏳️‍⚧️💫 📅 March 28 — 5PM 🗣️ Conversation with local Colombian transmasculine photographers 📸 @ch3lx , @valentinofl0res @lulo.az 📅 March 29 - 2 PM 💋 4 friends, 1 kiss (photo project, bring your friends! Thank you for having me @redpopular , @julisantaputricia , @museodeantioquia See you there bbs! 🛠️✨

💖🏳️‍⚧️ VOTE FOR ME FOR SF PRIDE GRAND MARSHAL 🏳️‍⚧️💖 @sanfranciscopride I’m so so honored to be nominated for San Francisco Pride Grand Marshal this year 🥲🌈🏳️‍⚧️ This recognition reflects years of work uplifting trans migrants, trans people of color, and our communities in the Bay Area 🙏🏽🌺💐 ✨ If my work has meant something to you, please take a moment to vote for me at the link in my bio.
Every vote helps bring more visibility to trans migrant leadership in our communities 🩵 Please vote, share, and help spread the word. Your support truly means the world ❤️ *Please vote once otherwise votes will get disqualified* — Marcel Pardo Ariza is a proud trans migrant from Colombia and a visionary force in the Bay Area’s cultural landscape. As an artist and activist, they transform institutions into spaces of radical visibility and power for queer and trans people of color. Marcel curated Juanita MORE!’s retrospective at the San Francisco Arts Commission and produced a groundbreaking trans history project featuring 33 trans and intersex Bay Area leaders, now in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Through the HIRE TRANS FOLKS campaign and their leadership with El/La Para TransLatinas, Marcel uplifts trans immigrants, advocating fiercely for safety, employment, and dignity. #sanfranciscopride #transisbeautiful

I’m 35 today 💫✨🪩
Grateful for life, the sun, and the sweet people I get to share it with ❤️‍🔥 One of the best parts of last year was spending a month making art in Fire Island getting to know myself better and feeling the sun and the ocean on my skin every day 🌞✨🌊 This year already feels heavy, I’m sending everyone softness and sustaining energy. There is a long road ahead. Right now, I’m holding close the things that actually sustain me: being together, sharing meals, moving our bodies, staying present and showing up for each other. And of course: Abolishing 🔥🧊🔥 Thank you for the photos @sunnyleeras and for the best memories @fireislandresidency 🥰 . . #transisbeautiful #transmasc #topsurgery

Life is wild right now and the only thing I know to be true is that our people are the best part of life 🫂💕 So grateful for a beautiful time back home 🇨🇴 with so many people I love and care about. I feel recharged, cared for and inspired. I also feel ready to take on more outdoor sports and new adventures! Nothing is certain, so let’s have a great time while we can 🥰🥲❤️‍🔥 Gracias a todes, gracias Colombia te amo y te extraño siempre 💖