Born in Mexico City, Maruja Cancino obtained an M.A. in Visual Arts at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Singing at the National Music Conservatory.
As a singer, she has been part of several independent Opera productions, such as Die schöne Galathee from Franz von Suppé with the Tlalnepantla Symphony Orchestra and the show Noises at the Esperanza Iris Theater in Mexico City. She has also sung in several recitals as a soloist, in places like the Manuel M. Ponce Hall and the National Art Museum, among others. Se was the lead vocalist of Chimera Ensamble until 2015, when she was part of the Operatic Assaults hosted by the Metropolitan Autonomous University. In 2020 she participated as an actress and singer in the Opera Cinema project, which transforms short operas into silent films that are later projected and sung in front of a live audience. So far, she’s appeared and sung in the three films that compose Puccini’s Il Trittico.
Regarding Visual Arts, she was an Assistant Professor in the Photography Department of the NPAS (National Plastic Arts School). During that period, she was involved in a research project with her own photographic work with pinhole cameras. In 2010, she collaborated in the postproduction of the second season of the Creando Ando TV series in Channel 22. Her work has been exhibited collectively in several occasions, in places such as Aguafuerte Gallery, Adolfo Mexiac Virtual Gallery and Andrómeda 3.20. Her first solo exhibition was in 2014 at the Jesús Reyes Heroles House in Coyoacán. In 2022 part of her self-portrait work was included at the WOW-Worlds of Women exhibition at the Trieste Photo Days festival in Italy.
Her artistic interests revolve around the constant dialogue between Photography and Painting. There’s also a frequent use of self-portrait and the expressive ability of her own body as tools and means to create images that mix reality and fiction. This themes have also provided her with ideas for several photography courses, which she has taught at Casa del Lago (a cultural facility that belongs to the NAUM), the Digital Culture Centre (operated by the Culture Secretariat of Mexico City) and the independent platform Cooltulab.