special issue 1
// a r t
Title: Postpartum // Artist: Kendra Sanchez
about the piece
| “Postpartum” 24 x 24. Acrylic and pastel on recycled canvas. My midwife, Gloria Moore, shared a story in which she went to see a client in the fresh few days after birth. The client was lying in her bed naked. She thought she had an infection so she was airing out her lower half, bleeding onto a chucks pad. She was bare chested from breastfeeding, but struggling with the process. She was holding a syringe of colostrum like a cigarette. As Gloria described this scene, she remarked how beautiful and metal and grunge it is to be a new parent and how much work it takes to sustain that little life. I wanted to capture a piece of that scene and the feeling of the postpartum haze, all the grunge, and beauty and wonderful work. |
about the artist // Kendra Sanchez
| Kendra Sanchez (she/her) is a multidisciplinary painter whose work explores the tension between vulnerability and agency, body and object, seen and unseen. Working primarily in acrylic, pastel, and mixed media, she pushes beyond traditional canvas by incorporating sewn textiles, silicone skin, and even tattooing techniques into her practice. Her paintings often center the body — not as passive subject, but as an active, dynamic presence — blurring the line between representation and embodiment. Deeply informed by questions of consent, intimacy, and autonomy, Kendra’s work invites the viewer into a quiet yet charged space of decision: to look, to touch, to question. Her materials and methods are chosen as much for their symbolic weight as their aesthetic quality, merging softness with resilience, familiarity with disruption. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kendra is steadily building a body of work that reflects her belief that art should not just be viewed but felt — an encounter rather than an observation. Her practice is fueled by a reverence for craft, a curiosity about the unspoken, and a commitment to making space for complex, embodied experiences. |
Instagram: @kendrasanchez.art
Website: kendrasanchez.com
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