Guadalupe Maravilla met Daniel Vilchis, a Mexico City-based artist from a family of retablo painters, as Maravilla was retracing the journey that brought him from El Salvador, though Mexico, to the United States. The two soon became collaborators, primarily creating retablos.
Retablos are important and accessible religious objects in much of Latin America and are especially popular in Mexico. Dedicated to Catholic figures like Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and various saints, these paintings are most often commissioned by the faithful to give thanks for miraculous occurrences, like triumph over hardship or salvation from tragedy.
“When I originally met Daniel, I commissioned a painting from him and gave him complete aesthetic control: I told him about my border crossing and he made a painting about it,” said Maravilla. “After that, I decided that I wanted my own aesthetic decisions to be part of the work, so I started photoshopping and collaging images digitally and he replicates them. Our collaboration consists of hundreds of messages on WhatsApp—where we go over every small detail of every retablo painting—and is part of my interest in supporting micro-economies.”
📷 Installation view, Guadalupe Maravilla: Tierra Blanca Joven, April 8, 2022 - September 18, 2022. Brooklyn Museum. (Photo: Danny Perez)
