Artist Statement/ Biography

The work of Michael Pribich uses the subject of labor to look at social conditions of all kinds. His practice is driven by the dehumanized treatment of workers and human beings anywhere in the world. Labor is the starting point but his interest overlaps both the mistreatment, and, the contributions of human beings everywhere. His core belief is that in recognizing labor as cultural production there becomes an expanded social space. Grandparents on both sides of his family were immigrant laborers. His Mother’s parents were employed as farm and cannery workers after relocating from Chihuahua, Mexico. Themes of displacement, migration, visibility and class underlie much of his practice.

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Michael Pribich is a visual artist living in New York City with his wife artist Esperanza Cortés. He was born and raised in Northern California outside of Sacramento. His ideas about nature, land use and labor come from these semi-rural surroundings. His work uses labor to address themes of displacement and migration in both rural and urban settings. He has participated in exhibitions and artist residencies throughout the USA, Mexico, Europe, and India. 2021 projects include the 360 Xochi Quetzal Residency with work informed by the African slave trade in Mexico. He has completed public art projects with the Public Works Departments in Sacramento and Woodland, California. He received a Pollock Krasner Award, and a Fulbright Award recommendation.