Courtesy This installation “The Kitchen Goddess” was a precursor to Suchil Coffman-Guerra's upcoming exhibit, “The Kitchen Goddess Goes to Work.”

WHO: Suchil Coffman-Guerra, 36

MEDIA: Photography, mixed-media installations

BEST KNOWN FOR: Photographic series that explore social issues, such as race relations and gender identity. “I end up doing projects that other people tend to skirt around,” she said. “It sometimes makes a lot of people uneasy.” The ongoing series “Snuff” examines rape and domestic violence; “Aging” looks at how the aging process is perceived.

CURRENTLY: “The Kitchen Goddess Goes to Work,” which coincides with Women's History Month, is a humorous installation examining the idealized roles of women both in the 1950s and today. Coffman-Guerra has constructed life-sized kitchen environments entirely out of textiles, including a fabric refrigerator and a crocheted Jell-O mold.
In the 1950s-style Technicolor kitchen area, women in retro clothing will recite “kitchen poetry” and interact with viewers. In a more minimalist, monochromatic kitchen, one woman will sit alone with her laptop and latté. This is “the modern-day supermom with a career, with kids and family and a Suburban,” said Coffman-Guerra. “They have everything they're supposed to want, but then why are so many of them unhappy?”

Coffman-Guerra wants viewers to think about how women's environments and roles have changed — and how they haven't. The use of textiles, often regarded as a craft medium traditionally used by women, makes a statement about the validity of textiles as art, she said.

ON THE WEB: suchil.com; retrokitchengoddess.blogspot.com

BACKGROUND: A San Antonio native, Coffman-Guerra earned her BFA at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She returned here in 2007 after spending 16 years in Denver.

DAY JOB: She owns Ayamo Concepts, a Web design and software development company.

CHECK HER OUT: “The Kitchen Goddess Goes to Work” opens with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, March 6, and runs through Sunday, March 9, and March 15 at Fiber Art Space in the Blue Star Arts Complex. Call (210) 271-1015.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor