GRIMM is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of five artworks by Claudia Martínez Garay by Museum Arnhem (NL).
Claudia Martínez Garay's work refers to a pre-Columbian visual language and concerns the way artifacts, cultural relics and propaganda represent Peru's history and collective socio-political memory. Multiple interpretations of historical figures and objects are incorporated in her painting, sculpture, graphics, videos and site specific installations. They provide alternative readings to the dominant Western narratives and beliefs. Martínez Garay challenges the persistence of colonial patterns that shape our view of cultures, pointing to underexposed and forgotten histories and people.
The five tuftings are collages from various sources such as Claudia Martínez Garay's own old textbooks, books on Peruvian history, pre-Columbian iconography and symbols, propaganda posters, botanical illustrations and archaeological archives. Pacha, the title of the series, is the Quechua word for something that means both time and space in Andean cosmovision. Each tapestry shows elements and symbols whose associations are sometimes specific to Peru, sometimes to the Andes, sometimes to Latin America and sometimes universal. With these expressive, colorful works that Martínez Garay has deliberately made to resemble tarot cards, she points out to the viewer the importance of ancient cosmologies in devising new ways for the future to understand time and space and to relate to the living beings and the things around us.
