Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa

The Guatemalan civil war, which took place between 1960 and 1996, is an event deeply rooted within Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa’s artistic practice. Through ethereal, dreamlike installations, the artist invokes folklore, ancient mythologies, magic and dreams. Ramírez-Figueroa’s installations feature amorphous forms without contours, conjuring up childhood night terrors or the scrawny, fleshless ghosts of civil war. Much of the artist’s work vocalises the trauma of fleeing Guatemala at the age of six, in the midst of the conflict. While Ramírez-Figueroa’s practice spans sculpture, drawing and printmaking, performance and stage production are perhaps the most intrinsic to his work; many sculptures double as props, activated by the artist and other performers. In A Brief History of Architecture in Guatemala (2010–13), historical Guatemalan buildings, such as a Spanish colonial church and the National Bank of Guatemala, are depicted as corrugated-plastic models, their legacy reframed through the performance.