Edgar Calel
Script error: No such module "Draft topics". Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
Édgar Calel (b. 1987) is a Maya-Kaqchikel visual artist and poet from Chi Xot, San Juan Comapala, Guatemala.[1] He is known for using contemporary art as a means of communicating the Maya-Kaqchikel cosmic worldview, traditions, and rituals to new publics beyond his native region.[2]
Biography[edit]
Édgar Calel was born in 1987 in Chi Xot, San Juan Comapala, an indigenous Maya Kaqchikel community in the highlands of Guatemala, a community which is "distinctive for the way they have received contemporary influences without ceasing to belong to the tradition of popular art".[3] At age 19, Calel received a scholarship to study at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas “Rafael Rodríguez Padilla” in Guatamala City.[4]
Following his studies at ENAP, Calel traveled throughout Central America developing his practice. In 2008, Calel was invited to a residency program at the Escuela de Arte Espira/La Espora in Managua, Nicaragua. From there, he went on to further residencies throughout Latin America, including in Córdoba, Argentina and Belo Horizonte, Brazil.[4]
Work[edit]
Calel works in various media, including painting, installations, videos, and performances, with an enduring focus on the ancestral culture and indigenous experience of the Maya Kaqchikel community. His work is noted for incorporating the Kaqchikel cosmic worldview, spirituality, rituals, and communal practices and using contemporary art to transmit these aspects to a wider public.[5] His works often draw attention to the violence, racial discrimination, and exclusion faced by indigenous communities in modern Guatemala, particularly in the course and aftermath of the Guatemalan Civil War.[2][6]
In 2021, Calel garnered media attention due to the novel approach to art custodianship in of his installation, “‘Ru k’ox k’ob’el jun ojer etemab’el’ (The Echo of an Ancient Form of Knowledge’)".[2] Recognizing that the installation, which incorporates Maya-Kaqchikel rituals blessings, cannot be reduced to its physical form, the Tate worked with Calel and the Proyecto Ultravioleta gallery to establish a unique custodial agreement in which the Tate acquired the installation, without owning it outright, for a period of 13 years (a number corresponding to the 13 joints of the human body in the Mayan cosmic worldview).[7][8] Speaking on the acquisition of Calel’s installation, Gregor Muir, Tate’s Director of Collection, said:
“Functioning like altarpieces on which we see sacrificial fruits and vegetables, his arrangement of rocks with all their associated rituals challenge the very concept of what it is to own something. The work purposely asks us to redefine collecting through a custodial agreement whereby the Tate retains a direct line to the artist and the Maya community. While we can never own Calel’s installation, we have much to learn from its intrinsic questioning.”[9]
According to a statement by Tate, once this 13-year custodianship of the work ends, "a new agreement will be made with the artist and his community, either to renew this custodianship, to pass it on to another institution, or to return the elements of the work to the earth".[10]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Édgar Calel Archives". Carnegie Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Basciano, Oliver (2023-11-24). "Guatemala's Proyectos Ultravioleta gallery offers new models for the art market". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ González, Valeria (2011). Change in Latin America and the Caribbean (1 ed.). USA: Art Program General Services, The World Bank. p. 81.CS1 maint: Date and year (link) Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Édgar Calel". C& AMÉRICA LATINA. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ Worley, Paul M.; Palacios, Rita (2022-05-05). "Las palabras pintadas de Comalapa: ts'íib en la obra de Negma Coy y Edgar Calel". Cuadernos de Literatura (in español). 26: 24. doi:10.11144/Javeriana.cl26.ppct. ISSN 2346-1691.
- ↑ Íñigo Clavo, María. "Private Monuments: On Edgar Calel's B'alab'äj". www.sculpture-center.org. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ Hardaker, Alistair (2023-06-14). "Mayan custom inspires custodianship agreement at Tate Liverpool". Museums + Heritage Advisor. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ Greenberger, Alex (2023-12-01). "Artist Edgar Calel Leads a New Wave of Institutional Critique". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ "Tate Liverpool exhibition showcases radical new approach to collecting art – Press Release". Tate. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ↑ Abrams, Amah-Rose (2021-10-22). "Tate Has Brokered Its First-Ever Deal to Acquire 'Custodianship' of an Artwork in a Novel Agreement With a Mayan Artist and His Tribe". Artnet News. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
This article "Edgar Calel" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Edgar Calel. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
