Guadalupe Maravilla, Resident Artist Lecture 2025

Guadalupe Maravilla gives a lecture at Skowhegan that explores his wide and vast interdisciplinary practice, which includes–but is not limited to– sculpture, sound, installation, painting, social practice, music, and performance. Maravilla begins the lecture by speaking about his experience as a Skowhegan participant in 2009 and the positive impact it had on him and his work. For Maravilla, he has long been interested in creating healing rituals (that are sometimes site-specific), which show people the tools they can develop in order to heal themselves. For Maravilla, healing rituals came out of his experience of dealing with cancer, surviving the war in El Salvador, and coming to the United States as an undocumented immigrant. Maravilla in particular speaks about how sound has always functioned for him as a medicine, and he sees his cancer as a blessing that has allowed him to become the artist he is today. Maravilla shares how he creates various community circles in New York City where he is based, which allows him to transform those circles into spaces for healing that is provided for undocumented communities. Maravilla then speaks about also creating cancer ceremonies in museum spaces and works with the gong to utilize it as an object that can function as a healing tool. Maravilla states that the more he can activate these sculptures, the more powerful he feels that they can become. Another important part of Maravilla’s daily practice is meditation. For Maravilla, meditation has become his armour that allows him to have discipline in every part of his life as an artist. Maravilla ends his lecture by stating that art can be utilized as a force that can pull people into healing, and for Maravilla it allows him to use money from institutions to create a space so healing can occur and mutual aid can happen.