Visual researcher bridging photomedia, visual sociology, and education. Originally from Lima, Peru, and currently based in Ibaraki, Japan. Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in Photomedia at the Doctoral Program in Art at the University of Tsukuba. I hold an M.Sc. in Kansei Design from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and a BA in Fine Arts from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). And was a Monbukagakusho Scholar of the Japanese Government (2018-2024).
My work focuses on landscape and migration, participatory visual methods, and visual literacy. Currently, my research looks into Latin American communities in Japan and has been presented in various cities across Latin America, Europe, the USA, Korea, and Japan. Member of the Time Lab/McLeod Lab UT research group and the GRUCYS/Grupo de Investigación Comunicación y Subjetividades PUCP research group. Since 2022, I have managed the photographic studio and darkrooms at the University of Tsukuba, and have over a decade of experience teaching at universities in Peru and Japan,
Explores the influence of Latin American migration in Japan through visual methods in the neo-rural landscapes and the historical connections between them. Photowalks and photo-elicitation interviews in Joso city helped to understand community dynamics and offered insights into how migrant communities interact, adapt, and influence their environments.
Mending Landscapes has been exhibited and presented at Siggraph Asia, the 20DC, 19DC, and the 18DC Exhibitions at the University of Tsukuba, the What is an image? of the IVSA2022 conference at Kunstmatrix here, Connecting & Sharing – Envisioning the Futures of Visual Literacy, at the IVLA2022 conference.
"Lima 478" explored the territory, identity, and urban landscape of Lima in commemoration of the 478th anniversary of its foundation through assemblages. Offering a unique vision of the city's different neighborhoods, fusing past and present constructions. Through the work, a city in constant movement is evident, sometimes blurred or almost abstract, and others clearly defined by colors and shapes.
The project reinterpreted Lima's transformation processes, highlighting its cultural richness and diversity, using materials such as MDF, foam, and structural cardboard with digital prints. "Lima 478" was exhibited in Lima's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
City Toy transforms the city of Lima into fantasy structures that evoke jigsaw puzzles, creating different cities from the same pieces. His assemblages, made from photographs and drawings of Lima mounted on structural cardboard, are non-fixed, transformable structures that vary over time, reflecting the dynamic nature of an actual city. The project includes a photographic series that documents the entire creative process, offering a unique vision of Lima that defies traditional outlines.
Civitas proposed a reinterpretative look of two-dimensionality by combining photography, drawing, printmaking, and digital collage to create chaotic and changing urban images based on the city of Lima. Through cropped and juxtaposed layers, it offered the viewer a new perspective.
Works of this project were exhibited at the Carré d'Art Gallery of the Alianza Francesa in Lima, Peru, the Canvas Gallery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and their assemblages were selected by the French Embassy in Peru as finalists for the "Pasaporte para un Artista" national contest and exhibition at the art gallery of the CCPUCP in Lima.
Ph.D. fellow at the Doctoral Program in Art, Art and Design Department. Member of the McLeod/Time Lab.
Master Program in Kansei, Behavioral, and Brain Sciences. Member of the Lee Lab/Kansei Design Lab.
Member of the Axis-Arte Research Group.
(2025) Ibañez Sandoval, M. Camera Geologica: An Elemental History of Photography, by Siobhan Angus, Duke University Press, 2024, 328 pages, ISBN: 978-1-4780-5917-2 (ebook). Journal of Visual Studies. doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2025.2484441
(2024) Ibañez Sandoval, M. Archivo fotográfico colectivo y paisaje migrante: la experiencia de los dekasegi latinoamericanos en el Japón periurbano [in Spanish]. Conexión, (21), 133-165. doi.org/10.18800/conexion.202401.005.
(2024) Ibañez Sandoval, M., McLeod, G., & Ma, A. Magic Brewing: Coffee and Visual Literacy In the Darkroom. In J. Lee, L. Okan, F. Rodrigues, C. Huilcapi-Collantes, E. Corrigan, G. Chesner, & H. Han (Eds.), Ways of Seeing: The Book of Selected Readings 2024 (pp. 110-112). International Visual Literacy Association. doi.org/10.52917/ivlatbsr.2023.035
(2023) Ibañez Sandoval, M. Mending Landscapes: Mirroring Joso. In J. Lee, W. Huang, X. Chen, F. Rodrigues, L. Okan, S. Beene, C. Huilcapi-Collantes (Eds.), Connecting & Sharing: The Book of Selected Readings 2023 (p. 169). International Visual Literacy Association. doi.org/10.52917/ivlatbsr.2023.035
(2023) Ibañez Sandoval, M. Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color: by Lorgia Garcia Peña Chicago, Haymarket Books, 2022, 120 pages ISBN: 9781642597196 (ebook) Price: $9.99. doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2023.2210534
(2022) Ibañez Sandoval, M. Nippo-Latin American Land. In Proceedings of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2022 Art Gallery (pp. 1-1). doi.org/10.1145/3550470.3558437
Annual Meeting of the Photographic Society of Japan. Tokyo Institute of Technology. Kanagawa, Japan.
55th Annual International Visual Literacy Association Conference: Ways of Seeing. California, United States of America.
IX Symposium on Migration Research: Migrations, Images, and Literatures. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
41st International Visual Sociology Association Conference - Expanding the Visual Field: New Developments in Visual Scholarship, Arts and Activism. Online.
In Tsukuba Global Science Week: Art and Design Session, Confronting Distance through Art and Design. Tsukuba, Japan.
54th Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association: Connecting + Sharing – Envisioning the Futures of Visual Literacy. Jyväskylä, Finland.
CONSTELACIONES: Interdisciplinary Congress on Art, Science and Technology. MAC-Lima. Lima, Peru.
In Tsukuba Global Science Week: Art and Design Session, Normality 5.0: Form and Adaptation through Art and Design. Tsukuba, Japan.
19th International Conference of Asia Digital Art and Design: ADADA + Cumulus. Seoul, Korea.
19th International Conference of Asia Digital Art and Design: ADADA + Cumulus. Seoul, Korea.
CADi Academic Design Congress 2021: Transformations. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Lima, Peru.
X Encounter between Art, Crafts, and Design. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Lima, Peru.
ThinkTEC. San Ignacio de Loyola University. Lima, Peru.
Mending & Remending: Nippo-Latin American Landscapes in Ibaraki was exhibited as part of Immigration Museum Tokyo’s exhibition “It’s Not a Cultural Showcase, but a Window to the Soul,” held in conjunction with the Tokyo Biennale 2023. This initiative transformed urban show windows in central Tokyo into spaces for intercultural dialogue. Developed through photowalks and photomontage in Jōsō, a city with a significant Latin American migrant population, the work presented a three-dimensional photomontage about how migration reshapes landscapes and memories.
Nippo-Latin American Land is a video installation about the periurban landscape of Jōsō in Japan that is influenced by its Latin American community. The work was presented at the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia's Art Gallery 2022, in Daegu, Korea. The exhibition was called "Trajectories of Time: Sustainable Ecologies and Non-fungible Entities." The structures shown were made of printed photos of various sizes, which are part of a bigger archive. In this setting, attendees could see the visual communication of the city presented as constructions moving and being transformed through the video.
Landscapes might reflect the people who inhabited them. Can we generate connections between histories, cultural heritage, land, and context through art? Using photomedia, family archives, and stories, I'm exploring how to rethink the role of landscapes as a space for reimagining transgenerational connections. The 19DC Exhibition presents selected work of doctoral students of the University of Tsukuba
"Mitsukaido: A Brazilian Town in Japan" is based in the Japanese city of Jōsō, where 40% of the migrant population is Brazilian, mainly in Mitsukaido. Home of the shopping district, where businesses and advertisements are directed to the Brazilian community, the work looks into the periurban landscape, and its migratory footprint, while searching to understand the landscape. The exhibition "What is an image?" presented juried work/peer-reviewed, and it was organized by the IVSA2022 conference. Visit the exhibition at Kunstmatrix here.
Understanding and (re)constructing my experience of the city. 3 trips to Jōsō, the city with the second largest migrant population in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. Looking for the trace of the Latin American migrant experience in one of the central streets in Ishige, Jōsō. "Mending Landscapes: Jōsō" was exhibited at "Connecting & Sharing – Envisioning the Futures of Visual Literacy," a juried/peer-reviewed exhibition organized by the IVLA2022 conference.
Landscapes might reflect the people who inhabited them. Can we generate connections between histories, cultural heritage, land, and context through art? Using photomedia, family archives, and stories, I'm exploring how to rethink the role of landscapes as a space for reimagining transgenerational connections. The 18DC Exhibition presents selected work of doctoral students of the University of Tsukuba
Tsukuba Obscura is a Time Lab/McLeod Lab Project. Traditionally, the camera obscura image is upside down. However, correcting that image with further optical instruments (e.g., the Bonfoton UP) is possible. Intervention at the T+ Gallery, University of Tsukuba.
→ El Peruano Newspaper (in Spanish).
→ Andina Agency (in Spanish).
→ Architectural Digest(in Spanish).
→ Broadcasted on November 6th (in Spanish).
→ Lima Gris (in Spanish).
→ PuntoEdu (in Spanish).