When Sohrab Mohebbi was casting around for a title for the Carnegie International that encompassed the multiplicity of cultures, the curator settled on Is it morning for you yet?, the title of Calel’s work for the exhibition, which, in turn, was adopted from the Maya Kaqchikel greeting. In May they collaborated again for Calel’s solo at New York’s SculptureCenter (which Mohebbi directs). Challenging Western artistic hegemonies, Calel’s work often sits somewhere between artwork and ritual, foregrounding an Indigenous cosmological worldview. He made news in 2021 by allowing Tate to be custodians of Ru k’ox k’ob’el jun ojer etemab’el (The Echo of an Ancient Form of Knowledge, 2021), a work that involved the invocation of his ancestors – which also appeared in this year’s Liverpool Biennial. At the Gwangju Biennale, Calel showed a new iteration of the work, and at the Bienal de São Paulo the artist presented an installation of embroideries representing the collective architecture and rituals of the Brazilian Guarani community.
Advertisement
Power 100
Most influential people in 2023 in the contemporary artworld
79
Edgar Calel
Artist - Converting the artworld to Mayan ways of thinking
79 in 2023
- 202379
- 202297
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
- 2009
- 2008
- 2007
- 2006
Related articles
Advertisement
Advertisement