Julianna Sanromán
Rojas
Julianna Sanromán Rojas is a Mexican-American artist from Southwest Detroit working across painting, installation, and participatory practice. She earned her BFA from the College for Creative Studies and is currently an MFA candidate and painting instructor at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design. Her work has been shown in Detroit and internationally, including at MOCAD, The Scarab Club, Detroit Artists Market, Playground Detroit, and Gallery Omnibus in Dresden. Her practice has been supported through opportunities including the Playground Detroit Emerging Artist Fellowship, Modern Ancient Brown Foundation Residency, Visionary Resistance Fellowship, and Casa Lu Sur in Mexico City. Her work has also entered international conversations around deportation through research involving Nagoya University and partners in Japan. Sanromán Rojas explores migration, postmemory, tenderness, collective grief, and the ways people remain connected across borders and distance.
Education
2027
MFA in Studio Art,
University of Michigan STAMPS School of Art and Design,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
2024
BFA, Studio Art and Crafts
College for Creative Studies, Detroit MI
Valedictorian
Collections
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor MI
Henry Ford Health Art Collection, Detroit, MI
Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
My Mother Is a Border I Return To, Casa Lu Sur, Mexico City
2026
Where We Still Meet, Detroit Artist Market, Detroit, Mi
2024
What Lived and Died Between Us, Playground Detroit, Detroit, Mi
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
2026
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI
Detroit Artist Market x Wasserman Projects , Bas Blue, Detroit, Mi
We Ran Toward Each Other, Stamps MFA First Year Exhibition, Ann Arbor, Mi
Routes & Roots, Woman Made Gallery,Chicago, Illinois
Embody: Remember, Reflection & Connection, Dorothy Gallery, Fairfield, Ca
Hilos de Identidad, Elaine L Jacobs, Midtown Detroit, Mi
2025
SOMETHING HOT , Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Transforming Traditions, Bas Blue, Detroit Mi
Water, Norwest Gallery, Detroit, Mi
Sanctuary, Swords into Plowshares, Detroit, Mi
People Are Strange, Galerie Camille, Detroit, Mi
Muerte A la Distancia, The Voyeur Bordello, Detroit, Mi
‘Remember Me Loving You’, Short Film SW Fest, Detroit, Mi
Cariño, Mexicantown Community Development, Detroit, Mi
Girlhood,MOCAD, Detroit, MI
Los Angeles Fundraiser, Playground Detroit, Detroit,Mi
2024
Abstraction, Gallery Omnibus, Dresden, Germany
Transmitir, Vamonos, Detroit, Mi
In the Beginning, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Student Scholarship Show, Detroit Artist Market, Detroit, Mi
Sovereignty, Garage Cultural, Detroit, Mi
Taking Care, Herman Kiefer Hospital, Detroit, Mi
CCS Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
More Than Today’s Tomorrow, 333 Midland, Detroit, Mi
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
A11eviate, Mexicantown Community Development, Detroit, Mi
2023
Art of BasBlue, Bas Blue X Wasserman Projects, Detroit, Mi
When Care is An Art, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
2022
Poor Man's Art Collection, The Gallery at Brewery Park, Detroit, Mi
Art Prize, Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Mi
Rooted and Cloudy, U245, Detroit, Mi
2021 In Retrospect, The HUB Gallery, Detroit, Mi
La Gatita Amable, Bagley Central, Detroit, Mi
Awards
2026
Vision Award, University of Michigan
Hell Raiser Award, Labor Heritage Foundation, Maryland
Tinker Field Research Grant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi
2025
Center for Education Women, Elise Choy Lee Scholar, University of Michigan
Rackham Merit Fellowship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi
WCEJ Thornton Foundation Music & Art Scholarship
2024
Imre J. Molnar Artistic Achievement Award, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2023
B&E Ford Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2022
Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors Scholarship, Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, Detroit, Mi
WCEJ Thornton Foundation Music & Art Scholarship
James Banton Endowment Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2021
Dean’s Award Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS
2026 Casa Lu Sur, Mexico City, Mexico
Visionary Resistance Fellowship, Detroit Mi
2024 Post-Baccalaureate Resident, Modern Ancient Brown Foundation, Detroit Mi
Emerging Artist Fellow, Playground Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Center of Gravity Residency, Walkaway House, North Adams, MA
2023 Common Grounds Cooperative Mural Residency, Traverse City, Mi
2022 Inside Southwest Summer Residency, Detroit, Mi
Press
2026
The Grief of Remembering the Absent One, The Deported One, El Central, Detroit, Mi
Artist Honor Southwest Detroit’s Grief Over Deportations With Community Altars, Planet Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Memory Is A Border I Keep Crossing, Lulu books
Detroit Residents Honor Detained Loved Ones, The Metro, Detroit, Mi
2025
Deportation Internal Sociology, University of Nagoya, Japan
2024
Artist Showcased, Axios Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Detroit Artist Paints the Pain of Deportation, Michigan Public NPR, Detroit, Mi
#33 December 2024, Suboart Magazine, Barcelona, Spain
2022
Marigold Anthology, Anhelo Anhelo, Detroit, Mi
Issue 2&3, Hey, I'm Alive MagazinE, San Francisco, California
Julianna Sanromán Roja
Julianna Sanromán Rojas is a Mexican-American artist from Southwest Detroit exploring memory, migration, tenderness, and the ways we remain connected across distance.Sanroman@umich.edu
Instagram
Substack
Spotify
˖⋆˚★
Julianna Sanromán Rojas
Julianna Sanromán Rojas is a Mexican-American multidisciplinary artist from Southwest Detroit working
across painting, installation,
and participatory practice.
She earned her BFA from the College for Creative Studies
and is currently an MFA candidate and painting instructor at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design. Her work has been shown in Detroit and internationally, including at MOCAD, The Scarab Club, Detroit Artists Market, Playground Detroit, and Gallery Omnibus in Dresden. Her practice has been supported through opportunities including the Playground Detroit Emerging Artist Fellowship, Modern Ancient Brown Foundation Residency, Visionary Resistance Fellowship, and Casa Lu Sur in Mexico City. Her work has also entered international conversations around deportation through research involving Nagoya University and partners in Japan. Sanromán Rojas explores migration, post memory, tenderness, collective grief, and the ways people remain connected across borders and distance.
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Instagram
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Spotify – julianna sanromán
˖⋆˚★
Education
2027
MFA in Studio Art,
University of Michigan STAMPS School of Art and Design,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
2024
BFA, Studio Art and Crafts
College for Creative Studies, Detroit MI
Valedictorian
Collections
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor MI
Henry Ford Health Art Collection, Detroit, MI
Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
My Mother Is a Border I Return To, Casa Lu Sur, Mexico City
2026
Where We Still Meet, Detroit Artist Market, Detroit, Mi
2024
What Lived and Died Between Us, Playground Detroit, Detroit, Mi
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
2026
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI
Detroit Artist Market x Wasserman Projects , Bas Blue, Detroit, Mi
We Ran Toward Each Other, Stamps MFA First Year Exhibition, Ann Arbor, Mi
Routes & Roots, Woman Made Gallery,Chicago, Illinois
Embody: Remember, Reflection & Connection, Dorothy Gallery, Fairfield, Ca
Hilos de Identidad, Elaine L Jacobs, Midtown Detroit, Mi
2025
SOMETHING HOT , Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Transforming Traditions, Bas Blue, Detroit Mi
Water, Norwest Gallery, Detroit, Mi
Sanctuary, Swords into Plowshares, Detroit, Mi
People Are Strange, Galerie Camille, Detroit, Mi
Muerte A la Distancia, The Voyeur Bordello, Detroit, Mi
‘Remember Me Loving You’, Short Film SW Fest, Detroit, Mi
Cariño, Mexicantown Community Development, Detroit, Mi
Girlhood,MOCAD, Detroit, MI
Los Angeles Fundraiser, Playground Detroit, Detroit,Mi
2024
Abstraction, Gallery Omnibus, Dresden, Germany
Transmitir, Vamonos, Detroit, Mi
In the Beginning, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
Student Scholarship Show, Detroit Artist Market, Detroit, Mi
Sovereignty, Garage Cultural, Detroit, Mi
Taking Care, Herman Kiefer Hospital, Detroit, Mi
CCS Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
More Than Today’s Tomorrow, 333 Midland, Detroit, Mi
Gilda Snowden Memorial Show, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
A11eviate, Mexicantown Community Development, Detroit, Mi
2023
Art of BasBlue, Bas Blue X Wasserman Projects, Detroit, Mi
When Care is An Art, Scarab Club, Detroit, Mi
2022
Poor Man's Art Collection, The Gallery at Brewery Park, Detroit, Mi
Art Prize, Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Mi
Rooted and Cloudy, U245, Detroit, Mi
2021
In Retrospect, The HUB Gallery, Detroit, Mi
La Gatita Amable, Bagley Central, Detroit, Mi
Invited Talks
2026
Rice As Mother, Brain Candy, Dearborn Mi
2025
Living With What Remains: Art, Erasure, and Futurity, Latino Research Week, Ann Arbor, Mi
2024
Art and Activism, Greenhill School, Ann Arbor, M
Awards
2026
Vision Award, University of Michigan
Hell Raiser Award, Labor Heritage Foundation, Maryland
Tinker Field Research Grant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi
2025
Center for Education Women, Elise Choy Lee Scholar, University of Michigan
Rackham Merit Fellowship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi
WCEJ Thornton Foundation Music & Art Scholarship
2024
Imre J. Molnar Artistic Achievement Award, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2023
B&E Ford Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2022
Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors Scholarship, Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, Detroit, Mi
WCEJ Thornton Foundation Music & Art Scholarship
James Banton Endowment Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
2021
Dean’s Award Scholarship, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Mi
Residencies & Fellowship
2026
Casa Lu Sur, Mexico City, Mexico
Visionary Resistance Fellowship, Detroit Mi
2024
Post-Baccalaureate Resident, Modern Ancient Brown Foundation, Detroit Mi
Emerging Artist Fellow, Playground Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Center of Gravity Residency, Walkaway House, North Adams, MA
2023
Common Grounds Cooperative Mural Residency, Traverse City, Mi
2022
Inside Southwest Summer Residency, Detroit, Mi
Press
2026
The Grief of Remembering the Absent One, The Deported One, El Central, Detroit, Mi
Artist Honor Southwest Detroit’s Grief Over Deportations With Community Altars, Planet Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Memory Is A Border I Keep Crossing, Lulu books
Detroit Residents Honor Detained Loved Ones, The Metro, Detroit, Mi
2025
Deportation Internal Sociology, University of Nagoya, Japan
2024
Artist Showcased, Axios Detroit, Detroit, Mi
Detroit Artist Paints the Pain of Deportation, Michigan Public NPR, Detroit, Mi
#33 December 2024, Suboart Magazine, Barcelona, Spain
2022
Marigold Anthology, Anhelo Anhelo, Detroit, Mi
Issue 2&3, Hey, I'm Alive MagazinE, San Francisco, California
Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020
Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020
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Maybe I was never meant to hold the sun.