McHenry County College is thrilled to host Jennifer Teresa Villanueva’s solo exhibition, “¿Quieres Salvar Al Mundo? Empieza por tu Familia / Do You Want To Save The World? Start with your Family.”

August 11 – September 12, 2025
McHenry County College | Epping Gallery
8900 U.S. Highway 14, Crystal Lake, IL 60012

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ARTIST STATEMENT

“¿Quieres Salvar Al Mundo? Empieza por tu Familia / Do You Want To Save The World? Start with your Family” is an intimate portrait of my Mexican-American family’s resilience. Born to factory-working parents in Chicago, I grew up surrounded by quiet routines, emotional labor, and sacrifices that define our shared domestic life–from my father’s long shifts at the factory, to my mother’s tireless work week, to my grandmother’s care for us navigating chronic illness, to my brother balancing childhood and study sessions, and to our act of voting to uplift silenced voices. These images reflect how migration, labor, and caregiving shape our family’s pursuit of the American Dream and belonging in the U.S.

The exhibition invites you to scan the textures and layers of generational trauma, domestic rituals, and stability reframed through our family. Documenting through the lens as a daughter and collaborator, the work transforms the domestic space into a site of trust, together challenging reductive stereotypes and uplift the often invisible acts of care that sustain immigrant households across generations and borders.

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BIO

Jennifer Teresa Villanueva is a first-generation Mexican-American artist born and raised in a working-class immigrant family in Chicago, IL, and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2020) and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2023). Her work focuses on vibrant color, intimate environmental portraits, and still lifes that document her immigrant family’s lived experiences with labor, care, and survival in the U.S.

Villanueva’s work centers on vibrant colors, environmental portraits, and still lifes that document her family’s lived experiences with labor, care, and survival in the U.S. Rooted in collaboration and trust, she photographs from within, as a daughter and witness, reframing the photographer’s role as part of the story. Her practice reflects on belonging, migration, and intergenerational resilience within immigrant families.

Villanueva is a 2025 AIM Fellow at The Bronx Museum of the Arts and has participated in SOMA Summer (Mexico City) and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. She is a recipient of the En Foco Photography Fellowship (2024), Aperture Creator Labs Photo Fund (2023), Elaine G. Weitzen ISP Fellowship (2023), Rauschenberg Artist Fund (2021), and the Chicago Artist Coalition SPARK Grant (2021). For more information about Villanueva, visit www.jennifertvillanueva.com and her Instagram page @jennifer__teresa.

IMAGE CREDIT: Jennifer Teresa Villanueva, “Votamos en honor a nuestra mamá y papá / We voted in honor of our mom and dad,” 2020, Archival inkjet print

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Tags: ¿Quieres Salvar Al Mundo? Empieza por tu Familia, Chicago, Crystal Lake, Jennifer Teresa Villanueva, McHenry County, McHenry County College