Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa

Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa
Huertos de los ch’olti, 2020
Installation with three beaded curtains (bronze, ceramic beads, resin, glass, synthetic hair, fabric)
240 x 120 x 45 cm
Commissioned and produced by TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary for the exhibition “How to Tread Lightly” at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, October 5, 2020 – January 17, 2021, curated by Soledad Gutiérrez

The work of Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa spans performance, video, sculpture, installation, and printmaking, and often delves into themes such as dreams, architecture, theater, and spirituality. Ramírez-Figueroa frequently investigates historical narratives—particularly the lingering traces of the brutal Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996)—through the embodied experience of the human form.

Huertos de los ch’olti takes inspiration from the “enchanted” gardens of the ancient Ch’olti’-speaking territories, located in present-day Belize and Guatemala. The installation comprises a series of beaded curtains, each suspended from a bronze branch adorned with representations of cacao, vanilla, and annatto fruits. These three crops once played a vital role in a complex pre-Hispanic agro-economic system associated with the Manche Ch’ol peoples of the Maya lowlands, thriving until the late 17th century.

In 1695, under Spanish colonial rule, the friar Francisco Morán recorded the Ch’olti’ language in a manuscript titled Arte y vocabulario de la lengua Cholti (Art and Vocabulary of the Cholti Language). It remains the only known documentation of the language before its extinction. Following years of failed “pacification” efforts—and acting on Morán’s counsel—colonial forces violently displaced and eradicated Ch’olti’ speakers, depopulating their lands under military and missionary control.

For decades after, the Ch’olti’ region remained a haunted and cursed territory in the eyes of Spanish colonizers. Legend has it that in the 18th century, Spanish observers noted cacao, vanilla, and annatto still growing in cultivated rows, even though no one appeared to be tending the fields. Morán’s manuscript, and the context in which it was produced, encapsulate the long history of religious imperialism and forced evangelization in Latin America, the cultural erasure that followed, and the ongoing losses endured by the Guatemalan people today.

PAST EXHIBITIONS:

Group show: Colonial Memory in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections

Curatorial team: Juan Ángel López, Alba Campo Rosillo, Andrea Pacheco González, and Yeison F. García López

Venue: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Date: June 25, 2024 - October 20, 2024

Group show: Abundant Futures. Works from the TBA21 Collection

Curator: Daniela Zyman

Venue: Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Analucía

Date: April 1, 2022 - March 5, 2023

Group show: How to Tread Lightly

Curator: Soledad Gutierrez

Venue: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Date: October 5, 2020- January 17, 2021