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 – APR 27, 2025. This exhibition presentation features artworks by Tanya Aguiñiga, Wendy Cabrera Rubio and Mauricio Guillén with Clemente Castor and Antonio Ponce, Tania Candiani, Dario Canul (Tlacolulokos), Porfirio Gutiérrez, Edgar Jahir Trujillo, Candice Lin, Andy Medina, Jou Morales, Rufina Nava Flores, Sandy Rodriguez, Sarah Rosalena, and Dyani White Hawk.
Artists Porfirio Gutiérrez and Tanya Aguiñiga talk and weave together under a cardón cactus in a field near Gutiérrez’ hometown in Teotítlan del Valle, Oaxaca. Photo: Javier Lazo Gutiérrez.
Fowler Museum at UCLA
308 Charles E Young Drive North, Westwood, Los Angeles
WED: 12–8PM
THU–SUN: 12–5PM
MON–TUE: CLOSED
Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB)
653 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara Downtown, Santa Barbara
TUE–SUN: 11AM–6PM
MON: CLOSED
Locations
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WED: 12–8PM
THU–SUN: 12–5PM
MON–TUE: CLOSED
TUE–SUN: 11AM–6PM
MON: CLOSED
WED: 12–8PM
THU–SUN: 12–5PM
MON–TUE: CLOSED
TUE–SUN: 11AM–6PM
MON: CLOSED
