Regina José Galindo
Guatemalan artist – Performance Art, Activism, Race, Social Violence
Regina José Galindo is a visual artist and poet, whose main medium is performance. Galindo lives and works in Guatemala, using its own context as a starting point to explore and accuse the ethical implication of social violence and injustices related to gender and racial discrimination, as well as human rights abuses arising from the endemic inequalities in power relations of contemporary societies. Galindo is, in Loris Romano’s words, “ an artist who pushes herself beyond her own limits, tough performances which are radical, unsettling and ethically discomfiting”.
Her work explores the universal ethical implications of social injustice, discrimination related to race, gender and other abuses involved in the unequal power relations that operate in our current society. She has participated in events such as the 54, 53, 51 and 49th Venice Biennale. XI International Biennial of Cuenca. 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts of Ljubljana. The Sharjah Biennial. Pontevedra Biennial 2010. 17th Biennale of Sydney. II Moscow Biennale. First Auckland Triennial. Venice-Istanbul. First Biennial of Art and Architecture Canary Islands. IV Bienal de Valencia. Third Biennial of Albania. Prague Biennale II. Third Biennial of Lima.
Galindo received the Golden Lion at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005, the young artist category for her work Who can erase the traces and Hymenoplasty. In 2011 receives the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands for her ability to transform personal anger and injustice into powerful public events that require a response that disrupts the ignorance and complacency to approach the experience of others.
Galindo is also a poet. In 1998 she received the Award for Poetry from Myrna Mack Foundation. Her texts are part of several anthologies and magazines, and in 1996 Coloquia Foundation published her book Personal e Intransmisible.
