Prophets, thieves, and lovers:
A Performance by Guadalupe Maravilla
Friday, December 15, 2017
6 to 8pm
Elia Alba, The Shaman (Guadalupe Maravilla), 2012. [Image Description: Artist Guadalupe Maravilla stands on top of the dark brown, gray, and white boulders of a beach. He is wearing muted clothing: a brown and white striped hoodie, pants with a swirling pattern of gray, orange, green, and yellow colors, and green rain boots. Behind him the water is active with ripples and tiny waves underneath a mostly clear, baby blue and white sky that is streaked with clouds.]
Guadalupe Maravilla (formerly known as Irvin Morazan) is a multidisciplinary artist who creates fictionalized rituals that incorporate Mestizo/Mayan ancestry and autobiography, tracing his history of displacement and cultural exchange. In the performance Prophets, thieves, and lovers, Maravilla and a bloodsucking vampire Mariachi singer (that only drinks the blood of Americans) shared their personal stories reflecting on the entanglement of genealogy and border crossing. Prophets, thieves, and lovers changed the ritual and meaning of traditional Latin American love songs, as a response to border politics. These songs, originally written about losing or missing a romantic partner, are lyrically reinterpreted by the artist as songs for loved ones missing on the other side of the border, or for those lost during the journey.
Bio
Guadalupe Maravilla (formally known as Irvin Morazan) adopted his undocumented father’s fake surname Maravilla to show solidarity during these challenging political times. As a child, Guadalupe Maravilla escaped civil war by immigrating alone to the United States from El Salvador. He was undocumented until he became a US citizen when he was 16. Maravilla is an Assistant Professor at VCU Sculpture + Extended Media. He utilizes performance, sculpture and video to explore fictional and autobiographical rituals that are sparked by current events and his autobiography. Throughout the last few years, he has performed and presented his work extensively in venues such as the New Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum of Art, El Museo Del Barrio, Jersey City Museum, Masur Museum of Art, Caribbean Museum (Colombia), MARTE Museum (El Salvador), Mercosur Biennial (Brazil), Central America Biennial X ( Costa Rica), XI Nicaragua Biennial (Nicaragua), Performa 11, Performa 13, Saud Haus (Berlin), Vooruit (Belgium), Fuxe-Box Festival, and Exit Art. Residencies include: LMCC Workspace, SOMA (Mexico City), and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including: Creative Capital Grant, Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant, Art Matters Grant, VMFA 2017, VCU Fountainhead Fellowship, Daedalus Foundation Fellowship, Cisneros Foundation Travel Grant, and The Robert Mapplethorpe Award for Photography.