Natalie Bell, João Mourão and Luís Silva
New Museum and Kunsthalle Lissabon
This first major monograph on Guatemalan multimedia artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (born 1978) contextualizes his works in performance, sculpture, drawing and printmaking of the past ten years. Ramírez-Figueroa's installations often combine sculpture and aspects of avant-garde theater to allude to traumatic events that have shaped the political climate of present-day Guatemala.
Ramírez-Figueroa expands on references to literature, folklore, magic and childhood memories. For this catalog, Catherine Wood, Senior Curator of Performance at Tate Modern, considers the artist's work through the lens of performance art, while Guatemalan Garifuna poet Wingston Gonzalez takes up its connections to the legacy of experimental theater in Latin America. Natalie Bell, Associate Curator at the New Museum, contributes an essay surveying selected bodies of work, and Kunsthalle Lissabon directors João Mourão and Luís Silva contribute an interview with the artist.
