Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal: Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérrez en Conversación/in Conversation

Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal: Tanya Aguiñiga & Porfirio Gutiérrez en Conversación/in Conversation examines the intersection of art and science within the Indigenous Oaxacan diaspora. This multivocal exhibition features new and recent work by fiber artists Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérrez alongside Oaxacan textiles from the Fowler collection. A focus on cochineal, a red dye derived from an insect that lives on the opuntia (prickly pear) cactus and first cultivated by the Zapotec peoples around 500 BC, provides a case study in multi-generational innovation. Aguiñiga Gutiérrez approach cochineal as a means of engaging with ancestral knowledge, collective memory, and personal experiences with migration and displacement.

The companion exhibition Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Contemporary Art, is on view at Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB) OCT 6, 2024 – JAN 12, 2025. This presentation features the work of Aguiñiga and Gutiérrez, as well as Wendy Cabrera Rubio, Tania Candiani, Edgar Jahir Trujillo, Candace Lin, Andy Medina, Jou Morales, Sandy Rodriguez, Sara Rosalena, Tlacolulokos & Dario Canul, and Dyani White Hawk.