Entre Mundos: Art of Abiayala

Entre Mundos: Art of Abiayala brings together works by artists with ties to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Ranging in time from antiquity to the present, the artists represented share personal or ancestral connections with these lands, offering glimpses into their regional artistic practices. Taking the form of textiles, furniture, ceramics, painting, and more, the objects on view were selected for their exploration of spiritual themes. New acquisitions such as María Fragoso Jara’s El paraíso perdido será siempre el paraíso, are presented with other collection highlights including ancient Paracas embroidery, 18th-century devotional paintings, papier mâché sculpture by Pedro Linares, and the feminist photography of Ana Mendieta.

The exhibition will also feature Ancestors Today. Visual Stories of Migrant Women, a community-based installation created by Mapuche artist, curator, and filmmaker Francisco Huichaqueo in collaboration with the Hartford-based female artisan collective, Arte Popular as part of his 2023-2024 artist residency at the University of Connecticut Good Living and Collective Healings Initiative. The project reflects on the experience of immigration, considering how objects such as textiles, paintings, and food embody memories of home. Through the inclusion of additional pieces drawn from the Wadsworth collection, Huichaqueo further invokes the memories and spirits of the ancestors tied to these living objects.

Starting in mid-October, members of the public are invited to leave a remembrance of a deceased loved one at our Día de Muertos ofrenda (altar) as we observe the centuries-old Mexican celebration on November 1-2 when the dead are invited to return to the living. Created by Hartford-based artists Carlos Hernández Chávez and Mercury, this year’s ofrenda celebrates Tonantzin, the earth mother goddess of the Aztecs.

Credit: Overview from museum website