S Sanchez
They/Them
Lubbock, TX
S. Sanchez is a gender non-conforming Chicano Metalsmith and jewelry artist from Houston, TX, with an MFA from Texas Tech University.
“The practice of adornment predates written language and continues to transform today. The meaning of jewelry will continue to evolve and change to reflect the makers of the time. One day, the remnants of today will be buried and ancient, but the practice of adornment will persist. I create icons, adornments, and septum ornaments to reflect existing as a Queer Trans Tejano in the here and now. I create work to function as proof of existence within the contemporary climate in hopes that being seen far into the future will be proof of Queer resilience, rebellion, and power.”
How does your creative practice reflect your experience of living and making as a BIPOC and/or 2SLGBTQIA+ maker?
“As a Queer Chicano from southeast Houston, linguistic signifiers and symbolic animals rooted in my cultural identity influence my creative practice. The visual languages I hold dear do not end with my Tejano-ness. Punk countercultural use of body modifications as radical resistance, and Queer cultures' use of body modification and “flagging” through adornment are deeply intertwined with my creative intentions. Using lived experience and looking back to the tactics of those who came before me, I have created a fluid visual code within my studio practice to reflect resistance through adornment.”
"€aguar Adorned", Electroformed copper and spray paint, 2 x 1.25x .75 inches, 2025
What techniques, stories, or materials have been passed down to you, and how are you reimagining them in the present?
“I am reinterpreting the story and significance of the jaguar. This symbol has reflected power, strength, and danger across countless cultures and millennia. In my practice, €aguar’s name and face have been Queered through suggestive title censorship and an adorned septum. €aguar still represents power and strength assigning these honorifics to a marginalized community. The danger that follows the ferocity of the jaguar is still reflected through €aguar, but is now reflecting the assigned and imagined danger that Queer people supposedly pose to the population at large. I use this character to continue the language of flagging within the practice of resistance. I am participating and contributing to the silent signifiers of safe spaces.”
"€aguar And Jade", Bronze, brass, silver, and Jade, 24x1 x 1 inches, 2025
How does your work honor those who came before you while forging new pathways for the future?
“The use of septum rings as a social code is not new. In many of the pre-Hispanic cultures of MesoAmerica and South America, jewelry and body ornament were used to assign divine power to people of high rank and nobility. Nose ornaments /narigueras were used to attain and assign magical power and divine status to the wearer. I use septum ornaments to assign power and status through Queer ritual self-adornment while honoring and reflecting an ancient practice. Septum adornment subverts power dynamics by disrupting hetero-patriarchal ideals through asserting Queerness, all the while venerating non-European epistemologies.”
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, research, etc.
“When choosing media, the longevity of my material is crucial. I use copper, bronze, silver, and brass. Each one of these materials grants my work a longer life. Each of these materials will change and transform over time. Given the proper circumstances, these metals will survive and long outlast me. Their transformation, beyond my time and control, will inform the pieces as much as my hand did. Regardless of change and deterioration over time, I use materials with long life spans. I imagine my objects of subversive power outliving me. So that they may one day be unearthed and asked questions about the world and the wearers they were made for.”
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist
"€aguar Mask", Electroformed copper, thread, and beads, 1 x 2 x 3 inches, 2026