NECESSARY ANCESTRALITY IN ANTONIO PICHILLÁ
Antonio Pichillá (San Pedro de La Laguna, Guatemala) proposes a broad return to the atavistic and ancestral in his recent work, exhibited in the two venues of the Memoria gallery in Madrid under the title Abuela materna (Maternal Grandmother). This return should be understood beyond the mere construction or defense of an original identity, in order to encompass the full meaning the artist conveys through his work.
There are elements in his works that delve into the collective, into the community as an integral part of that development, advocating for the recognition of each member’s role within that relational space—each familial connection or link to nature. Without this process, which stems from an understanding of his Mayan Tz'utujil roots, it is difficult to grasp the criteria that shape Pichillá’s artistic vision.
Rooted in this cultural process as part of his aesthetic construction, Pichillá takes up the baton and, in part, the responsibility of continuing generational transmission. This aspect stands out in his works, revering textile art not only as an instrumental vessel of tradition but also as the formulation of an identity that, beyond exogenous exoticism, asserts the recognition of the original.
A substratum within this exhibition inevitably leads us to consider the artist’s ability to readapt and redefine his language after being exposed to the Western canons that dominate contemporary art. This acquired knowledge is applied to traditional textile techniques, merging processes that give life to a fundamentally ancestral proposal—one that coexists within a different circuit, which may challenge its original conception.
Textile and weaving appear as a unified element, a technique valid in itself, requiring no further explanation beyond semiotic or symbolic research, yet also converging in works mounted on canvas. Here, one can perceive a form of syncretism reflected in a more archetypal medium, which nevertheless results in great technical and chromatic impact.
The audiovisual elements exhibited at the Carabanchel venue address this connection in a didactic rather than purely expository manner, helping to contextualize an environment that, from a Western anthropological perspective, verges on classical museography—a traditional, scientific exhibition space. Here lies the interplay of isolation and decontextualization as a reflective thread, but also as a symbol of the acceptance of the primitive and its dignification as an artistic process.
Abuela materna, by Antonio Pichillá, can be seen until May 17 at MEMORIA gallery, Piamonte 19 and Morenés Arteaga 18, Madrid (Spain).
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