María Magdalena Campos-Pons (*1959) first attracted international attention with abstract paintings about female sexuality. The Cuban-American artist also played a major role in a more extensive representation of black Cubans, who had previously hardly played a role in the country's art. Since then, Campos-Pons' work has revolved around these and other central themes of gender, multicultural identities, motherhood and the history of slavery. She also incorporates her family history: Campos-Pons has Nigerian and Chinese ancestors who came to Cuba as slaves and contract laborers to work on the plantations and in sugar factories. Campos-Pons works primarily with photography, sculpture, performance and audiovisual media, but painting and drawing are also part of her repertoire. In her own words, she explores a »felt history« that deals with resilience, cultural diversity, mythology and previously unknown narratives. With the exhibition María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold, the Getty Center looks back on 35 years of pioneering art: Campos-Pons is considered one of Cuba's most important artists. The show can be seen in Los Angeles from February 18 to May 4.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons studied in Havana and Boston. She participated in the Venice Biennale in 2001 and 2013. In 2017 she was represented at documenta 14 in Kassel and in 2023 she was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship. Numerous renowned museums in North America have works by the artist in their collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, both in New York. Since 2017, Campos-Pons has taught at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
This exhibition was created in collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum, where it was shown at the end of 2023.
