Martine Gutierrez’s practice spans photography, video, installation, and performance, exploring themes of gender, race, class, and her Mayan heritage. She frequently places herself at the center of her work, using sleek, uncanny self-portraits reminiscent of magazine advertisements to challenge traditional beauty standards. Gutierrez’s work transcends the trope of “artist as muse” to embody the “artist as media mogul,” crafting a world of images that reflect the cultural spaces from which she had been excluded. Through the glossy, polished aesthetic of the fashion magazine, she subverts conventional ideals of beauty to highlight the entrenched sexism, racism, and transphobia in mainstream media.