Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa: The House at Kawinal

The House at Kawinal is the first solo exhibition in US of the artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, born in Guatemala City in 1978. The show presents a recent video performance titled “Life in his Mouth, Death Cradles her Arm” (2016), along with a series of figurative sculptures which aim to reflect on some tragic events occurred in Guatemala in the early 1980s. In that period the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam was built, after the displacement of thousands of people occupying that territory through brutal military-led massacres.

Ramírez-Figueroa’s works always arise from varied references to literature, folklore, magic, and childhood memories, combining different media to create symbolic and dreamlike situations, which often may allude to traumatic events that have shaped the social and political climate of present-day Guatemala.

Three of the artist’s recent performances for video are on view as part of the Museum’s ongoing Screens Series, a platform for the presentation of video works by emerging contemporary artists.