For Frieze London 2024, Proyectos Ultravioleta is pleased to present a two-person exhibition, featuring historical paintings by Rosa Elena Curruchich (1958-2005) and works by Edgar Calel (b. 1987), both artists from Chi Xot - San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.

Curruchich is considered to be the first indigenous painter of Guatemala. Her miniature genre-paintings serve as a historical record of the daily life, rituals, and traditions of the Maya Kaqchikel people. In most of her works, women are seen at the heart of collective life. Sadly, the format she adopted is not accidental, but responds to the need of protecting her physical integrity, and preserving her artistic practice, in a context where a group of male painters felt threatened by the modest acclaim that her work was receiving. In 1979, upon her return to Chi Xot after her first solo exhibition in Guatemala City, she was beaten and sexually abused by a group of male painters, and tormented physiologically. However, none of these acts of violence could deter her from painting, which she did until her premature death at the age of 47. In the paintings displayed at Frieze, the artist illustrates the lived experiences and oral histories she collected from her community. Each work is accompanied by a text in which she describes the scene and recounts aspects of collective life: customs, productive day to day activities, acts of care, and spiritual ceremonies.

Calel, for his part, works in a variety of media, exploring the complexities of contemporary Kaqchikel identity and experience. His work addresses themes of spirituality, nature, exclusion, and collective memory; seeking a balance between traditional practices and the modern world according to the Mayan cosmovision. In his series ‘They Are Selling Me’ (‘Me Venden’), which he created collectively with various family members, the artist brings to the forefront the issue of land and cultural exploitation, stemming from the extractivism imposed on the Mayan peoples of Guatemala during the colonial period, which continues to this day. The front of the works features landscapes of some of the most visible tourist destinations in Guatemala, using soil from Chi Xot as pigment, over which the phrase "Me Venden" is inscribed. On the reverse of the paintings, the phrase “maní yi ni besq’opij” is written in Kaqchikel in charcoal, which translates to "Don’t Let Go of Me," a phrase from his maternal grandmother, who always urged the family to preserve their land, traditions, and knowledge. Seen together, the works call on Indigenous peoples to reclaim their rights and to retain their identity and land as expressions of cultural pride and territorial resistance. Meanwhile viewers are invited to recognise the unequal dynamics at play and to appreciate Indigenous peoples’ rich cultural legacy, territorial and systemic knowledge, in their terms rather than ours.

While Curruchich faced violence aimed at silencing her, her use of the miniature format became a form of survival and subversion. Her work preserves the historical richness of the Chi Xot community and the Maya Kaqchikel people, and embodies the voice of women within it. Calel, in turn, takes up this legacy and invites us to rethink and imagine new alliances, paradigms, and strategies against the extractivist relations that continue to affect Indigenous peoples and territories from colonial times to the present. Together, their works not only reveal the long standing Indigenous struggle, but also highlights their singular expressions of resistance. Moreover, they encourage us to engage in a deep reflection on the role and potential of art, inviting us to recognise ourselves, denounce violence and injustices, and foster more equitable bonds and communities moving forward.