Pilar is a poet, video artist, translator by trade and border-crosser by vocation.
She was born in Mexico City, but lived in California, Texas, and New Mexico, for
a total of 13 years; she presently lives in Malinalco, Estado de Mexico and tries to
commute to the capital city only when necessary.
She originally wanted to become a filmmaker, and started doing video while in
college. Her piece “The Idea We Live In,” won first place at the 1991 Athens
International Film and Video Festival, in Ohio, and at the Bienal de Video de
México, 1992 (plus an honorary mention for scriptwriting); “The Unexpected Turn
of Jim Sagel,” was “Best New Mexican Film” at the Roswell Film Festival in
1994, and “Return, or the Inexactness of Centre” was selected for the 2008
International Videopoetry Showcase (Argentina). Her video work has been shown
in several festivals and museums in Europe and America. She has received grants
from the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE), the National Fund for
the Culture and the Arts (FONCA), and the City of Austin Arts Commission,
among others.
Roswell Film Festival in
1994, and “Return, or the Inexactness of Centre” was selected for the 2008
International Videopoetry Showcase (Argentina). Her video work has been shown
in several festivals and museums in Europe and America. She has received grants
from the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE), the National Fund for
the Culture and the Arts (FONCA), and the City of Austin Arts Commission,
among others.
As a writer, she published her first poem in a student magazine, and since then, she has continued to publish poetry, articles and reviews in various magazines and
anthologies in North America, like Voices of Mexico, Replicante, Ruptures,
Tribuno del Pueblo, Saguaro, The America’s Review, Bilingual Review, DoveTales,
and Mujeres de Maíz Flor y Canto, and Voces sin fronteras II, Éditions Alondras,
Montreal, Quebec, to mention a few. In 2012 she published her first book of
poetry, Asunto de mujeres (Story of Women), Cascada de Palabras, México. In
february of 2013, she received as an award for her poem Nuestras Luchitas, a
scholarship to participate at the 8th Annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference. In
2014 she published Verdes Lazos, a poetry placket, with Editorial Rio Arriba.