Guatemalan art has captured international attention, this time at the Sydney Biennale, Australia, where the creations of five artists from the country make their way into one of the most relevant artistic events in the world.
In its 25th edition, Guatemalans Ángel Poyón, Angélica Serech, Edgar Calel, Fernando Poyón and Sandra Monterroso present works loaded with national identity, which will remain on display until June 14, 2026.
The event brings together more than 83 artists from different countries and focuses its proposal on topics such as memory, suppression and indigenous perspectives, as highlighted by the Paiz Foundation. The director of the entity, Sonia Hurtarte, explains that this edition, titled Rememory (Rememoria), presents a space that connects memory with oblivion.
According to the Paiz Foundation, the works exhibited present marginalized narratives, share stories that are not very visible and invite the public to reflect on how memory shapes identity and the sense of belonging. Additionally, they strengthen understanding of the contexts and connections that sustain communities.
This space also gives artists the opportunity to contribute elements from their origins, many of which have been historically relegated or forgotten.
According to Hurtarte, Guatemalan exponents have presented a diversity of proposals that represent the country. Angélica Serech, for example, worked with textiles, an element deeply linked to indigenous communities.
For his part, Ángel Poyón exhibits an installation with carved wood that refers to the resistance and continuity of life. Meanwhile, Fernando Poyón developed an installation with pencils that recreates a cornfield from a contemporary perspective, which shows how the works address the ancestral from a current perspective.
The artist Edgar Calel develops an artistic line that is nourished by his indigenous heritage and that, according to the foundation, integrates traditional ceremonies, cosmology and collective memory in installations, performances and participatory art.
Another of the artists is Fernando Poyón, originally from Comalapa, who through his creations explores the changing dynamics of indigenous communities from a historical and social perspective.
Prensa Libre spoke with Sandra Monterroso, one of the visual artists who has taken her work to Sydney, who highlighted that exhibiting at this type of event allows her work to reach new audiences and for her creations to have connection and meaning, which emerged at the time of making them.
Her talent has taken her to 14 international biennials, which is why she details that currently there is greater participation of Mayan and indigenous artists, which is important, since it reflects a social transformation in which art also plays a relevant role.
Guatemalan artist Sandra Monterroso at a Fundación Paiz press conference. (Free Press Photo: Kenneth Cruz)
Monterroso highlights that the artists are invited by curators, who research the artists, their works and the history of art at a Latin American and global level, which leads them to select those who will participate in an exhibition.
The artist of Q’eqchi’ Mayan descent shared that her work The zigzag of the mountain It is a large-format piece, a polyptych of five modules, each measuring 255 x 138 cm, on which he worked for a year and a half and which is now exhibited in Sydney. In addition, it highlights that the curator Hoor Al Qasimi was the one who invited the artists.