Descripción de la Exposición
"Piedras de Fuego (Fire Stones)" is the first solo exhibition in the UK of Guadalupe Maravilla, transforming Talbot Rice Gallery’s Georgian Gallery into a place for recovery and regeneration. Gathering his remarkable personal journey and teachings from healers and shamans from around the world, Maravilla’s sculptures, paintings and murals are made to be powerful healing instruments.
They retrace the route he made as an eight-year-old undocumented and unaccompanied migrant, fleeing the civil war in El Salvador to journey to the United States. This decision, to face places of trauma, was informed by his diagnosis with stage three colon cancer and having to find a way to heal more profoundly. Objects collected on this journey become part of artworks, including the towering shrine-like sculptures called Disease Throwers and the Retablo devotional paintings, which give thanks to the miracles and experiences that have happened in his life. Sound is central to Maravilla’s approach to healing and Sound as Medicine, Maravilla’s new album of sound performances, will play throughout.
Volcanic sculptures give the exhibition its title. Made by artisan Miguel Ángel Peña Cervantes in Mexico, Dream Backpacks refer to people immigrating to the US by land in search of the “American Dream”. The rock references a long history of displaced people from Central America—where the migratory routes to the US follow a tectonic line marked by volcanoes—whilst echoing the emotional and psychological weight of this journey. Related embroidered works symbolize manos ancestrales (“ancestor’s hands”), influenced by the artist’s Maya/Mestizo ancestry, whilst sculptural hammocks offer a place of rest for ancestors.
Linking everything together across the walls of Talbot Rice’s neoclassical gallery are murals made by playing a game from Maravilla’s childhood, the Tripa Chuca. As an eight-year-old, Maravilla used this game to form relationships with the coyotes and grandmothers and other generous people that helped him through his journey.
Curated by James Clegg.
Exposición. 31 oct de 2024 - 09 feb de 2025 / Artium - Centro Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo / Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, España
Formación. 07 nov de 2024 - 28 nov de 2024 / Museo Nacional del Prado / Madrid, España
