EDGAR CALEL

Visual artist and poet Edgar Calel engages with topics related to ritual and the rich cultural heritage of Guatemala’s midwestern highlands, where he resides. Hailing from a family of Maya-Kaqchikel artists and artisans, Calel works across drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and performance, often engaging with sites and traditions in and around his hometown of Chi Xot (San Juan Comalapa) as creative touchstones for works that meticulously interconnect localities, at home and internationally. The artist’s primary concerns include exploring the complexities of Indigenous experiences and representing the Maya-Kaqchikel worldview to new publics. Through these processes, Calel, who is considered a leading voice of institutional critique among a broad generation of Latin American artists, frequently addresses power dynamics and historical shifts while raising the profile of Indigenous peoples through an anticolonial transmission of living beliefs and customs.