Born and raised in Arequipa, Peru, Alejandra Almuelle also grew up in the Sacred Valley of Cuzco known for its ceramics and pottery. A fan of the Surrealist painter Magritte, Almuelle didn't dedicate herself to working with clay until moving to her current residence in Austin, Texas in 1988. Combining different techniques, Almuelle uses clay with metal and glass to mold the human form she prefers to work on. Through modeling and building the great human existence, Almuelle considers her "projects" an expression on the questions of identity and existence. German philosopher Heidegger once said, "Human existence cannot have a relationship with being unless it remains in the midst of nothingness." Almuelle utilizes the philosopher's words to confront what she considers the essence of humanity. "Nothingness is the placeholder of possibility. In the moment of silence before the answer, the possibility embraces everything and nothing: the acceptance and the negation of everything in one single moment. In that moment I am confronted by essence."

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