There is something curious, disturbing and bizarre in Guadalupe Maravilla's works. His freestanding sculptures entitled "Disease Throwers", for example, are assemblages of found objects - among them shells, ropes, bits and pieces of metal and parts of anatomical models - and materials surrounding a gong. They evoke tribal and primordial feelings and look a bit scary like mysterious monsters, but they also seem to bring with them a healing message, that becomes clearer when you read the artist's biography.
Born in 1976 in El Salvador, Maravilla was brought to the US by a coyote (or human trafficker) in 1984 as an undocumented, unaccompanied child, fleeing civil war in El Salvador. He was therefore part of the first wave of undocumented children to come to the U.S. from Central America.
Maravilla became a U.S. citizen at 27 and, in 2016, to honour his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as his last name, the artist changed his birth name from Irvin Morazan to Guadalupe Maravilla. Diagnosed with colon cancer as an adult, Maravilla was treated with radiation and chemotherapy alongside healing practices and became cancer free.
Maravilla is currently Professor of the Practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, having received his MFA from Hunter College and his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Living and working in Brooklyn, New York, the artist creates interdisciplinary works hinting at his experiences of exile and illness, migration and healing.
The materials incorporated in his "Disease Throwers" were collected while the artist retraced his migration journey and the sound element in these sculptures hints at a collective ritual, a meditative healing experience created by the artist.
The sculptures will be on display in January at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway, as part of "Sound Botanica " (14th January - 30th April 2022), Maravilla's first solo exhibition in Europe.
The word "Botanica" in the title refers to a small store that sells herbal and other traditional remedies, together with charms, incense, candles, and other items used for religious or spiritual purposes.
The exhibition brings indeed together different inspirations and series of works: apart from his "Disease Throwers" there are also works from his series entitled "Tripa Chuca", "Embroideries" and "Retablos".
"Tripa Chuca" (Dirty Guts) references a Salvadorian game that Maravilla played during his childhood and along his migration route. The drawings included in these works look at migration in general and at the personal history of the artist.
The "Embroideries" series features instead embroidered elements, disembodied limbs, hands, and clenched fists, stitched with dripping blocks of ice (a reference to ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), skulls and a hand sowing seeds. These contemporary emblems were created by the artist to symbolise resistance against the persecution of and political pressure on undocumented immigrants.
The "Retablos" are devotional "ex-voto" paintings, a popular art form traditionally used to express gratitude for surviving dangerous events. In Maravilla's retablos, and in the long inscriptions on each of them, the artist gives thanks and expresses gratitude for, among other things, a new chance in life after his cancer treatment, which made it possible for him to continue as an artist and healer.
"Sound Botanica" is part of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme 2021: Maravilla is the second artist to receive the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award, presented bi-annually and intended to mark a significant milestone in an artist's career.
Inaugurated in 2019 with Otobong Nkanga as its first recipient, the award presents 100,000 USD in prize money to a distinguished artist whose work will inspire and motivate future generations to active participation and social responsibility.
The award jury stated about the artist: "Guadalupe Maravilla's life is also his work (...) The artist's interdisciplinary practice constantly refers to these experiences of exile and illness, migration and healing, identity and displacement. Yet Maravilla's work is also far more than his life. Building on personal narratives but venturing far afield into pre-Columbian mythologies, collective memory, geopolitical history, and material culture, the artist constructs artworks that act. His sculptures and elaborate constructions are also performative tools; he collaborates with others to create interactive wall drawings; he has choreographed a motorcycle gang chorus,and crossed the Rio Grande using one of his artworks as a flotation device."
The artist's focus on society and key social issues remains a key aspect of Maravilla's practice: during the Coronavirus pandemic in New York last year, Maravilla organised mutual aid work across the city supporting undocumented and immigrant communities with food and money, his ongoing commitment to immigrants.
Image credits for this post
1 - 4. Guadalupe Maravilla, Disease Thrower #6, 2019. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla andP·P·O·W, New York.
5 and 6. Guadalupe Maravilla, Disease Thrower #7, 2019. Henie Onstad Collection. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York.
7 and 8. Guadalupe Maravilla, Requiem for a border crossing #1, 2016-2020. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York
9. and 10. Guadalupe Maravilla, Requiem for a border crossing #4, 2016–2020. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York
11 and 12. Guadalupe Maravilla, EXVOTO Kambo Retablo, 2021.Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York
13 and 14. Guadalupe Maravilla, I want to thank the cucumbers Retablo, 2021. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York
15. Portrait of the artist. Photo by Steve Benisty. Courtesy of Guadalupe Maravilla and P·P·O·W, New York.
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