(B.1997) Juan Rodriguez Sandoval is a Guatemalan-born, Latin-American, Australian interdisciplinary environmental artist. He respectfully lives and works in Gippsland, Victoria, on Brayakaulung Country (Gunai Kurnai Nations) and Boon Wurrung Country (Kulin Nations).

 

His practice bridges his Latin heritage, roots and memory with a focus on ecological issues, concerns

and sciences. His work currently sits on the premise of social practice and imaginative world-

building, often employing pseudo-interventions,  to explore: “abandoned” or "neglected" truths, to re-imagine colonial storytelling and fables, and intervene the way in which we approach and frame the “mythical” in the current endangered state of environmental sovereignty.

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Juan primarily works with earthly, bio-organic matter and found materials, which he believes

are living conduits with unique properties of geographic and historic significance. He values

material sovereignty, as it impacts both the temporality and lifespan of his practice.

 

Juan believes in sustainable approaches to artmaking that expand beyond upcycling/recycling, to propagating materials that create a consensus and reflective experience to remind the

spectator about ecological awareness, culture, and intelligence. Juan has exhibited his work across various credited Artist-Run-Initiatives across Naarm,(West Space, Blindside Gallery, Trocadero Projects) alongside commercial gallery spaces

(Marfa Gallery, No Vacancy Gallery, The Other Art Fair) and Council-owned and run gallery

spaces (Latrobe Regional Gallery, Incinerator Gallery). Furthermore, Juan has shown in

Launceston, Tasmania, Darwin, Northern Territory, Baltimore, U.S.A, São Pablo, Brazil,

London England.

 

Additionally, Juan has seen public success as the awarded artist for the Latrobe Regional Gallery Inaugural public art commission on the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail (2022 – 23). He has been a recipient of Creative Australia funding for his project ‘From the Subterranean: We Come (2024)’. He has taken extensive and successful artist residencies with the Land Art Collective in London, Olhao Gallery in Sao Pablo, and with the Centre for Projection Art in Collingwood. Juan’s work is housed in both private and public collections

and is currently working toward his next big solo project to take place in 2026.

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Alongside his art, Juan is also a dedicated parent, finding balance between his personal life and creative growth. His journey as an artist shows how art can build connections between people and the world around them.