My name is Yvette Jessica Marthell, MFA, MA. I am a Cuban American interdisciplinary artist based in Long Beach, California. I work with photography, video, printmaking, and experimental darkroom processes to explore how the body holds love, grief, desire, and memory. My practice often begins with direct, physical engagement, using my own body, the bodies of people I love, or family and community archives. I am drawn to tender, vulnerable moments and to the quiet spaces where intimacy and discomfort overlap.

I am also a long-time photographic educator. For more than twenty years, I have taught photography and digital media arts at the high school, community college, and university levels in Southern California. In the classroom, I focus on building strong technical skills while helping students trust their own voice and lived experience. I invite students to experiment, to question how images shape the stories we tell about ourselves, and to use photography as a tool for care, connection, and creative risk.