Rebeca Méndez considers the experience of a journey an artistic process and has produced a significant body of work based on travels to unfamiliar and extreme places such as Iceland, Patagonia and the Sahara Desert. She uses photography to examine the cycles and systems, the forces and cross-rhythmic tensions that make natural phenomena emerge. Méndez received an MFA in Media Arts and BFA in Communication Design from Art Center College of Design. She is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in Design and Media Arts. Awards include 2013 Glow Art Festival Artist in Residence and Artist Grant, residency in Iceland, 2012 C.O.L.A. Individual Fellowship Award, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Communication Design and a Mid-Career Fellowship from the California Community Foundation.