Her work merges painting and collage (often using origami paper) in portraits that often deal with social constructs of identity and subcultures.
[2] As a teenager, Saldamando was influenced by publications like Teen Angels, which celebrated the popular Chicano aesthetics of the time, as well as the growing punk and cholo cultural movements.
[2] At this time she took advantage of artistic groups in San Francisco, like the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.
[3] After graduating high school, Saldamando moved to Los Angeles and found there a community of like-aged individuals who celebrated Chicanismo and appreciated the British musical artists that she liked.
[9] She is also involved in her community, leading such artistic events as paper-craft workshops which bring awareness to the historical persecution of Japanese people through World War II era internment camps.
[9] In her artist statement, Saldamando says that “By exploring subculture through personal narrative and employing an eclectic mix of materials, I hope to disarm fixed hierarchical social and artistic constructs.”[7] In the same artist statement, she also clarifies that her focus on showcasing her friends (the majority of whom represent minority ethnic groups) functions to “...glorify everyday people who are often overlooked, yet whose existence is the embodiment and legacy of historical struggle.”[7] Many of the people that she depicts in her artwork embody punk or other underground aesthetics.
[11] One UC Riverside professor describes Saldamando's artwork as “‘...very L.A…It’s that blend of punk-pop aesthetic with pretty Japanese-girl-craft, meticulous rendition combined with the laid-back posture of her subjects.”[2] The mediums she uses are diverse, and include wooden surfaces and a variety of textiles.
[16] Saldmando's work was also shown in We Must Risk Delight: Twenty Artists from Los Angeles, curated by Elizabeta Betinski as an official collateral exhibition of the 56th Venice Biennale.
The exhibition consisted primarily of colored pencil portraits on wooden surfaces representing members of her social circle in Los Angeles.
"[19] "My friends and I would buy Teen Angels, a magazine of lowrider and cholo art, and try to copy the drawings of Aztec pyramids and warriors and naked girls.