top of page
Search
Writer's pictureBeatriz Herrera

Performing inequalities: the work of Regina José Galindo

Through performance art, Galindo has displayed the most dreadful issues that happen in a racist, violent and unequal context. She has experience as a poet and visual artist, one of her first works consisted in lying inside a plastic bag in the biggest garbage dump of Guatemala City, in order to highlight the human bodies that are victims of violence. She has been awarded by various prizes internationally, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Biennale de Venezia in 2005 and the Claus Award from the Netherlands because of her "capacity to transform the personal anger and injustice en powerful public performances which demand a response that interrupts the ignorance and indulgence in order to approach the experience of others" (Galindo's webpage).


Galindo has also challenged the way an artist relates to the audience in a museum. One example is "State secret" and consisted in the audience carrying a stretcher with her body. Underneath, the stretcher had attached a bag with her own blood which was leaking. The audience could not see where the blood was coming from (See pictures below). She has demonstrated how is possible to create awareness of complicated topics which are part of the everyday life of the subalterns in Guatemala. Her work is also a personal inspiration for challenging aesthetics and researching new ways of conceiving art that as a powerful transformative tool in society.




Images of "State secret" from Galindo's webpage:




4 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page