AwardOctober 29, 2021
Guadalupe Maravilla
On October 5, the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter museum – located in Høvikodden, Norway – announced the winner of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award 2021 to the Salvadoran artist Guadalupe Maravilla. Chosen by an international jury composed of María Inés Rodríguez, editor of Tropical Papers and curator (extraordinary) of MASP, São Paulo; Michelle Kuo, curator of painting and sculpture at The Marlene Hess at MoMA, New York; Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of The Showroom, London, and director (appointed) of MACBA, Barcelona; Paulina Rider Wilhelmsen, member of the Tate International Council and founder of LWAAP and Wilstar Social Impact, Oslo; Caroline Ugelstad, chief curator of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; and Tone Hansen, director of Henie Onstad Kunstsenter and founder of LWAAP.
Guadalupe Maravilla (El Salvador 1976) is a visual artist working and living in Brooklyn, New York. In 1984, when he was eight years old, he immigrated alone to the United States as part of the first wave of unaccompanied and undocumented children fleeing the Civil War in El Salvador. Maravilla became a U.S. citizen at age 27. In 2016, and in honor of his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as his last name, he changed his birth name from Irvin Morazan to Guadalupe Maravilla. As an adult, he was diagnosed with cancer, treated with radiation and chemotherapy, employed his own healing practices, and eventually cured. Both events greatly impacted Maravilla's artistic practice and are present in his work.
The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award presents a USD $100,000 prize to a distinguished artist whose work will inspire and motivate future generations to active participation and social responsibility. It also awards a financial allocation to include the artist's work in Henie Onstad's collection, which will have a solo exhibition to be presented at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter from January 14 until April 30, 2022.
Maravilla creates performances, videos, sculptures, and drawings incorporating his pre-Columbian Central American ancestry, personal mythology, and autobiography. Through his multidisciplinary studio practice, Maravilla traces the history of his displacement, questioning parallels between pre-Columbian cultures and global border politics.
Regarding his selection, the jury stated: "Guadalupe Maravilla's interdisciplinary practice makes constant reference to his experiences of exile and illness, migration and healing, identity and displacement. Yet, Maravilla's work is much more than his life. Drawing on personal narratives but venturing richly into pre-Columbian mythologies, collective memory, geopolitical history, and material culture, the artist constructs artworks that act. His sculptures and elaborate constructions are also performative tools. He collaborates with others to create interactive wall drawings. He has choreographed the chorus of a motorcycle gang and has crossed the Rio Grande using one of his artworks as a flotation device.
When New York became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, Maravilla organized mutual aid work throughout the city, supplying undocumented and immigrant groups with food and money, a continuation of his ongoing commitment to the immigrant community."
Guadalupe Maravilla is the second winner of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award, granted every two years, intended to mark a significant milestone in an artist's career, and represents a financial commitment. This award results from a partnership between Lise's family, Arne Wilhelmsen, and the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. It was established to continue and honor Lise Wilhelmsen's (1936 - 2019) commitment to the visual arts.
Guadalupe Maravilla (El Salvador 1976) is a visual artist working and living in Brooklyn, New York. In 1984, when he was eight years old, he immigrated alone to the United States as part of the first wave of unaccompanied and undocumented children fleeing the Civil War in El Salvador. Maravilla became a U.S. citizen at age 27. In 2016, and in honor of his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as his last name, he changed his birth name from Irvin Morazan to Guadalupe Maravilla. As an adult, he was diagnosed with cancer, treated with radiation and chemotherapy, employed his own healing practices, and eventually cured. Both events greatly impacted Maravilla's artistic practice and are present in his work.
The Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award presents a USD $100,000 prize to a distinguished artist whose work will inspire and motivate future generations to active participation and social responsibility. It also awards a financial allocation to include the artist's work in Henie Onstad's collection, which will have a solo exhibition to be presented at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter from January 14 until April 30, 2022.
Maravilla creates performances, videos, sculptures, and drawings incorporating his pre-Columbian Central American ancestry, personal mythology, and autobiography. Through his multidisciplinary studio practice, Maravilla traces the history of his displacement, questioning parallels between pre-Columbian cultures and global border politics.
Regarding his selection, the jury stated: "Guadalupe Maravilla's interdisciplinary practice makes constant reference to his experiences of exile and illness, migration and healing, identity and displacement. Yet, Maravilla's work is much more than his life. Drawing on personal narratives but venturing richly into pre-Columbian mythologies, collective memory, geopolitical history, and material culture, the artist constructs artworks that act. His sculptures and elaborate constructions are also performative tools. He collaborates with others to create interactive wall drawings. He has choreographed the chorus of a motorcycle gang and has crossed the Rio Grande using one of his artworks as a flotation device.
When New York became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, Maravilla organized mutual aid work throughout the city, supplying undocumented and immigrant groups with food and money, a continuation of his ongoing commitment to the immigrant community."
Guadalupe Maravilla is the second winner of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award, granted every two years, intended to mark a significant milestone in an artist's career, and represents a financial commitment. This award results from a partnership between Lise's family, Arne Wilhelmsen, and the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. It was established to continue and honor Lise Wilhelmsen's (1936 - 2019) commitment to the visual arts.
