Alinka Echeverría

Alinka Echeverría is a Mexican-British artist working across multiple media. With a background in anthropology, she challenges conventional narratives around identity and home, offering unique perspectives into various cultural contexts through her subjects. Her research based work brings a contemporary and critical approach to questions of visual representation.

The Road to Tepeyac

In Mexico, the Virgen de Guadalupe stands as a powerful icon of cultural syncretism, merging pre-Columbian traditions with Spanish colonialism. Annually, millions of pilgrims travel to Tepeyac to honor her, seeking blessings for health, love, and prosperity. This pilgrimage echoes ancient rituals performed at Tepeyac, an important pre-Columbian site where various gods were worshipped, and human sacrifices took place. The Virgin, who appeared at this site speaking Nahuatl, has replaced the Aztec deity Tonantzin, embodying the mestizaje process.

Alinka Echeverría’s project, "The Road to Tepeyac," captures this syncretism vividly. Pilgrims of all ages carry diverse, often handmade images of the Virgin, becoming living representations not only of their faith but also a now merged cultural identity. Through Echeverría's work, the enduring legacy of this syncretism is brought to life, highlighting deep connections between past and present.

The seriality deconstructs the historical, political, philosophical, psychological and anthropological relationship between an invisible presence and its materialized expression.

The recurring presence of pilgrims helps to demystify the iconic images they carry on their backs. Each pilgrim, rather than blending into a crowd, stands out for their unique expression of faith.

The work was created over two years at the site of Tepeyac, on the days leading up to the anniversary of the Virgin’s apparitions in 1531.

Gwladys Alonso, Maria Monteys, Interspecifics & Claudio Sodi 

Decay & Renewal is a collaborative exhibition between artists Gwladys Alonso María Monteys, Interspecifics and Claudio sodi. 

A dialogue centered around decay and renewal, with a special emphasis on the possibilities of life and death viewed through fungi and permanent materials. Join us on this visual journey that seeks to link nature to art offering a fresh perspective on techniques, human endeavor and a new way to contemplate the universal pattern of creation.

A decade ago, Claudio Sodi started exploring how random fungi behave and intervene. This journey has since yielded a series of work based upon compositions created when very simple and strong shapes inadvertently face environmental organisms such as mold - introduced by the artist through intentional humidity, darkness and warm temperatures in which his canvases are so artfully immersed. 

A series of 6 pieces, which took 19 months to prepare, from the moment of painting the rational acrylic figures, to the petrification of the mold; different fungi dispersed by the wind, from the ground, and even through moisture particles carried by insects. The final pieces become unique thoughts between the artist and the spores of various fungi.

Interspecifics presents a unique artwork collection, combining science with technology to create an extraordinary visual experience. These pieces are developed through a cooperative process characteristic of Interspecifics' work, in which non-human organisms, algorithms and machines are part of the same creative ensemble. The resulting pieces are graphic, one-of-a-kind procedural drawings – mechanically drawn on cotton paper using a custom plotter - that explore the structural and biological complexities found within cultures of different types of mushrooms.

This type of work is indicative of Interspecific's quest, spanning more than 10 years  devoted to the observation and production of work inspired by the expression and behavior of organisms, such as plants, bacteria, fungi, and physical phenomena.