Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara is pleased to present Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal:Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Contemporary Art featuring 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.
The conversations and the artworks presented here center the aesthetics, history, and global impact of the Zapotec peoples’ cultivation of cochineal—a scale insect that lives exclusively on the nopal cactus (Opuntia cacti) and is the source of a red dye derived from its body. The beauty of cochineal hue has captivated people for centuries, not only in Mexico, but around the world. The title Sangre de Nopal evokes the insect, the dyestuff, and the color red. Translated as the blood of the nopal, it describes the bright red stain that appears when one squeezes the small, wax-covered insect.
The exhibition is interested in the history of cochineal and its intersection with contemporary art as a case study for Indigenous innovation and its global influences. As well as the role of language, the land, and plants in a deeper understanding of the comprehensiveness of traditional ecological knowledge specifically as it relates to the Indigenous Oaxacan Diaspora and contemporary art.
The mentorship of Indigenous Oaxacan youth through the research phase and into the run of the exhibition centers art, science, technology, innovation, as integral to a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage. This thread includes culturally specific learning in weaving and natural dye knowledge, as well as virtual access to the comprehensive textile and photographic collections of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal features at the heart of the research and exhibition planning, the unique collaborative exchange between lead artists Porfirio Gutiérrez and Tanya Aguiñiga, specifically with regards to their different backgrounds and perspectives on weaving and natural dye usage, with a special focus on immigration and labor justice.
The companion exhibition: Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal: Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérrez en Conversación/in Conversation is currently on view at the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Admission:
Free
Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 6pm