María Magdalena Campos-Pons (born July 22, 1959) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n-born artist based in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Tennessee. Campos-Pons works primarily in photography, performance, audiovisual media, and sculpture. She is considered a "key figure" among Cuban artists who found their voice in a post-revolutionary Cuba. Her art deals with themes of Cuban culture, gender and sexuality, multicultural identity (Cuban, Chinese, and

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

) as well as interracial family (Cuban-American), and religion/spirituality (in particular,

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

Santería Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...

).Bell, Lynne. "History of People Who Were Not Heroes: A Conversation with Maria Magdalena Campos‐Pons." Third Text 12.43 (1998): 32-42. Print.

Early life and education

Campos-Pons was born in

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ; ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-American religions, Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Mat ...

, Cuba, in 1959 and grew up in a

sugar plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacc ...

town called La Vega /

Calimete Calimete is a municipality and town in the Matanzas Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1867 by José Antonio Castañeda. Demographics In 2022, the municipality of Calimete had a population of 27,210. With a total area of , it has a population de ...

in Cuba. Her paternal great-grandparents were Yoruba. She also has Chinese and

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

heritage. Her African ancestors, who were brought over by sugar plantation owners in the late 19th century, passed down traditions from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

that influenced and became part of Campos-Pons's art. The African side of her family worked as slaves on sugar plantations and as domestic servants. The Chinese side of her family worked as indentured servants in sugar mills. When she was young, Campos relates that during a trip to the National Cuban Museum of Fine Art, she distinctly felt that black Cubans were conspicuously missing from the art. She did not feel as though black Cubans were equally represented. Campos-Pons has described much of her art education as very traditional, rooted in drawing and sculpture. She trained at the Escuela National de Arte in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. From 1980 to 1989, she attended Havana's

Instituto Superior de Arte The University of Arts of Cuba / Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) was established on 1 September 1976, by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. History T ...

(ISA). The ISA allowed students to be exposed to international artistic movements and develop art that drew from Cuba's unique "mixed traditions and cultures." Her ISA painting professor Antonio Vidal, a Cuban abstractionist, had a lasting impact on her work as a painter and she presented his work, along with her work with Neil Leonard at documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany. Campos-Pons conducted her post graduate studies at

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, and the only publicly funded independent art sch ...

in 1988. While there, she created her first film that was scored by composer, saxophonist, Neil Leonard, whom she married in 1989. Before moving to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1991 to live with Leonard, she took a fellowship in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a resort town in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Calgary, east of Lake Louise, Alberta, Lake Louise, and above Banff was the first municipality to incorporate within ...

. The artist also taught at the

School of the Museum of Fine Arts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a dedicated art school within Tufts University, a private research university in Massa ...

at Tufts University. Since 2017, she has lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

Career

Between 1986 and 1989 Campos-Pons was professor of Painting and

Aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

at the

. She started exhibiting internationally in 1984. In the late 1980s, her art work gained "international recognition" with her abstract paintings dealing with

female sexuality Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sexual activ ...

. Her work coincides with the rise of the New Cuban Art movement. The New Cuban Art movement began as a reaction against the repressive aspects of the Cuban state and the introduction of conceptual art.Cuban Art Wikipedia The movement was less focused on technical skill and more on creating an art that was genuinely Cuban. A large part of this artistic movement was the introduction of

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African a ...

presence, both as artists and within the art itself. Humor and spirituality were major themes in New Cuban Art. Her early work, often consisting of separate, shaped canvases, suggested fragmentation of the female self and referenced

myths. She also explored

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to human reproduction, reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights: Reproductive rights ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

through her art. Campos Pons work often revolves around feminist ideologies. In an interview with Lynne Bell, she stated: "My work in Cuba looked at issues of sexuality, women's place in society, and the representation of women in the history of art". As there was no larger feminist movement in Cuba, it was only through the expression of art through artists like Campos-Pon and others that feminism was kept in the spotlight and popular consciousness. In the 1990s, she explored her family's ties to slavery and the

tradition carried over by her Yoruba family members. Santería is a spiritual practice which was developed by African slaves in Cuba by combining influences from Yoruba and Roman Catholic religious systems. Santería is often referred to as a "woman's religion" as it is a religion shaped by women and practiced largely by women. Campos Pons uses Santería as a theme in her art to identify her

ancestry and Cuban heritage. She explores the rituals and symbols of Santería in some of her work from this time period. ''The Seven Powers Come by the Sea'' (1992) and ''The Seven Powers'' (1994) are installations that address slavery and make mention of various Yoruba gods and goddesses. During the 1990s sound became increasingly important in Campos-Pons' work and Leonard created electronic sound for all of her videos and installations. Sound for the installations often used Leonard's music incorporating fragments of Campos-Pons voice and field recordings, often heard via speakers that surrounded visitors. After 1994, there was a shift in Campos-Pons's work, and it became somewhat

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

." This work is largely

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

and has tended to examine her ancestors' relationship with slavery and the sugar industry. Her work investigates "a felt history," through the intersection of "non-spoken narratives" and "resilient culture". She started using large-format photographs which were often arranged into

diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

s or other configurations. These works are reminiscent of works by

Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist whose works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally. In 1990, she became one of the first African-American women to exhibit at the Venice Bien ...

and

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and Video installation, installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photog ...

. In the early 2000s, she returned to elements of

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

and

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

that were reminiscent of her early work, and admittedly influenced by her Cuban professor Antonio Vidal. According to Campos-Pons' artist statement, her work "renders elements of personal history and persona that have universal relevance...My subjects are my Afro-Cuban relatives as well as myself...The salient tie to familiar and cultural history vastly expands for me the range of photographic possibilities." Campos-Pon is interested in showing "crosscultural" and "crossgenerational" themes dealing with race and gender as "expressed in symbols of

matriarchy Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of Power (social and political), power and Social privilege, privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Whil ...

and maternity." Campos-Pons says: "Of merging ideas, merging of ethnicities, merging of traditions... I am as much black, Cuban, woman, Chinese. I am this tapestry of all of that, and the responses to that could be very complicated and could include even anguish and pain." Other ideas that her work explores includes exile, immigration, memory and Cuba itself. Her art has been shown in scores of solo and group exhibitions, including solo shows at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City; the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

; the Johannesburg Biennial; the First

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

; the

Dakar Biennale The Dakar Biennale, or Dak'Art - Biennale de l'Art Africain Contemporain, is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Dakar, Senegal. Dak'Art's focus has been on Contemporary African Art since 1996. History ...

in Senegal; and the Guangzhou Triennial in China. Campos-Pons's work is in the collections of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, the

, The Museum of Fine Arts, the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

, and the

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

. Campos-Pons teaches at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, where she is the

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

Endowed Chair of Fine Arts. In 2020, and as a result of the nationwide social unrest, she launched "Engine for Art, Democracy and Justice", which is defined as a Vanderbilt University "trans-institutional series of virtual conversations and artistic collaborations focused on healing at a time of significant social unrest." Her diptych photograph, ''The House'' was included in the 2022 exhibition '' Afro-Atlantic Histories'' at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

Collaboration with Neil Leonard

Between 1988 and 2018, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard created thirty-eight audio visual works together. By the time they met in 1988, Leonard had created sound for video installations and performances by Tony Oursler, Constance De Jong and Sam Durant. After meeting Leonard, sound became increasingly important in Campos-Pons's practice. She collaborated with Leonard to incorporate spoken word, music and field recordings into the work, and expand her practice to include time-based presentation. Leonard called on leading practitioners of Cuban religious music to play for their installation, video and performances including Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Los Hermanos Arango, Ramon Garcia Perez (Afrocuba de Matanzas), Roman Diaz (Yoruba Andabo) and Oriente Lopez to perform with them. Leonard created electroacoustic compositions for Campos-Pons' first film and videos, Rito de Iniciación (1988) and Baño Sagrado (1990) created as a result of a residency at Western Front, Vancouver. From 2010-2017, Campos-Pons created their most mature collaborations, balancing a sonic/visual content and ideas, and integrating the audio sources into sculptural components. During this period, Leonard focused on how global marketing impacted how we listen. His work with Campos-Pons included recordings and performances made in collaboration with butchers, bartenders, street criers, former dock workers and folkloric ensembles. Leonard and Campos-Pons' Installations and processions of this period were co-authored (commissioned, planned and executed as a team), including "Llego Fefa,"11 Bienal de Havana; "Habla Madre," Guggenheim Museum; "Alchemy of the Soul," Peabody Essex Museum; "Identified," Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery, "53+1=54+1+55. Letter of the Year," 55th Venice Biennale; "Matanzas Sound Map" and "Bar Matanzas," documenta 14.Cotter, Holland. "María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard."The New York Times. The New York Times, September 26, 2013. Accessed October 25, 2015. These pieces shifted the focus from Campos-Pons' biographical narrative to the Campos-Pons' and Leonard's interests in exploring the invisible threads connecting disparate cultures in the Americas. Art critic

Holland Cotter Holland Cotter is an American writer and co-chief art critic with ''The New York Times''. In 2009, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Life and work Cotter was born in Connecticut and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He earned his A.B. fr ...

describes Leonard's composition for the Cuban Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale as a "haunting, rhythmic, chantlike score, secular spiritual music for a New World". Leonard's composition for their performance "Identified" (2016) at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery featured Leonard performing with multi-Grammy winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard, a folkloric Cuban ensemble and a jazz orchestra comprising students of the Duke Ellington School for the Arts. Musicians were located in the main atrium, stairwell and galleries and created a series of locations with unique sonic signatures that Campos-Pons wandered thought during the performance.

Art

The following are some examples of some of Campos Pons' art: * "53+1=54+1+55. Letter of the Year" from 2013, by María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard. This work of art was displayed in the Cuban Pavilion during the Venice Biennale of 2013.Fernández-Torres, Jorge (2013). "La Pervesión de lo Clásico: Anarquía de los Relatos." Maretti Editore. p. 220. The work comprises 100 bird cages, 55 video players and 18 audio speakers. "Letter of the Year" addresses issues of home, migration, the necessity of finding and redefining the meaning of permanency and locality. Letter of the Year plays with two key sounds in Cuba today. Video interviews in the birdcages document the reconstruction of a dialogue between Cuban residents and their family members who live abroad. Outside the cages one hears recordings of street criers, known as pregoneros, a reflection of the increased liberalization of small businesses that exists within a void of corporate control. In an accompanying guerilla performance in Piazza San Marco, Campos-Pons led a procession dressed in a "neo-Byzantine" costume combining elements of Chinese, Spanish and Afro-Caribbean attire, while Leonard performed with a hybrid ensemble of U.S., Cuban and Scottish musicians. the work was a joint production by Galleria Pack (now Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio) and Federico Luger Gallery, both from Milan. * "Spoken Softly with Mama", from 1998, by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons with sound by Neil Leonard (Nashville Scene). "Spoken Softly with Mama"combines elements of sculpture, painting, photography, performance, sound, and video to explore her African/Cuban roots and to address themes of gender, race, family and history."Unfolding layers of history and experience, Campos-Pons brings to light the ephemeral qualities of everyday lives and untold stories. The artist's life and work involve a continuous engagement with her mother, sisters, family, and neighbors in Cuba. By extension, her work refers to the generations of Africans transported there in centuries past to work on sugarcane and tobacco plantations who transcended their oppression through the strength of their religious and cultural practices," says Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Video, who first showed the work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1998. The installation features an immersive quadrophonic soundtrack by Neil Leonard.Weinhuff, Christi. "Mama/Reciprocal Energy: Reciprocity as an Agent of Identity Formation in the Works of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons." Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal 8 (2012): 1-11. Print. The work was purchased by the National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. * "The One That Carried Fire", from 2011, by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons (Studio International) This work explores the creation of gender identity, and in particular deals with the construction of femininity. The One That Carried Fire consists of organic lines and shapes of flowers painted in bright reds and pink, alluding to female reproductive organs. At the bottom is Campos Pons' self-portrait, whose natural hair holds a glowing orb connecting her to the burst of color and flowers, not only a physical connection with her femininity, but also a symbol of familial ties to her cultural heritage. * Matanzas Sound Map from 2017, by María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard. "Matanzas Sound Map" created for Documenta 14, comprises projected video, 10 discreet channels of audio (asynchronous with video). Cast glass, blown glass, handmade paper, coconut tree bark, coconuts shells, Calea stone Matanzas. The work explores the sonic landscape of Matanzas, from the harbor neighborhoods where iconic musical forms were born to remote estuaries where one imagines Cuba as it sounded before human intervention. The installation creates an aural cartography made in collaboration with sugar growers, musicians, musicologists and scientists.Szymczyk, Adam (2017). "documenta 14: Daybook." Prestel.

Public collections (selection)

Their work is included in the collection of several public institutions globally, including: *

* Tufts University Art Galleries *

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, at Harvard University

Awards

Campos-Pons has received many awards and recognitions, including the ''"Mention of Honor"'', in 1986 in the XVIIIème Festival International de la Peinture, Château Musée, Cagnes Sur Mer, France. In 1990 Painting Fellowship, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; in 1992 Foreign Visiting Artist Grant, Media Arts,

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

, Canada; in 1994 Bunting Fellowship, Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, Radcliffe Research and Study Center, Cambridge, MA; and in 1995 Art Reach 95 Award, National Congress of Art & Design, Salt Lake City, Utah. * 2023:

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

* 2021: $50,000 Pérez Prize * 2018: $25,000 Anonymous Was a Woman Award * 2012: Woman of Color Award Boston, MA * 2011: Woman of Courage Boston MA * 2011: Hispanic Alianza Award Nashville TN * 2009: The Jorge Hernandez Leadership in the Arts Award, MA * 2007: Rappaport Prize MA * 1997:

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate ...

Grant, NY * 1995: Art Reach 95 Award, National Congress of Art & Design, Salt Lake City, UT * 1995: Bunting Fellowship, Radcliffe College at Harvard, Cambridge, MA * 1995:

New England Foundation for the Arts The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, is one of six Non-profit organization, not-for-profit Regional arts council (RAO), regional arts organizations funded by the National E ...

, Regional Fellowship, MA US * 1992-1991: Foreign Visiting Artist Grant, Media Arts, Canada Council Painting * 1992-1991: Fellowship, The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada * 1990: Painting Fellowship, The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada * 1989: Medal of Honor, City of Guanabacoa, Cuba * 1985: Symposium of Scientific Studies, Research Award, Higher Institute of Art,

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

and

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

* 2021: The Rise of the Butterflies, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany * 2021: Sea and Self, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin * 2020: New Viewings #25 Curated by Octavio Zaya, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany * 2020: In The Garden, curated by Francesca Pasini, Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio, Milan, Italy. * 2019: Sea and Self, The Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities,

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, New Brunswick * 2018: Like the lonely traveller: Video Works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Visual Arts Center,

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

* 2018: Notes on Sugar: Works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Christian Green Gallery, The University of Texas at Austin * 2017: Matanzas Sound Map, documenta 14, Athens (co-commnission with Neil Leonard) * 2017: Bar Matanzas, documenta14, Kassel (co-commnission with Neil Leonard) * 2013: Water, WIZARD GALLERY, Milan * 2011–2012: Journeys & Mama/Reciprocal Energy, First Center for Visual Arts (performance with Neil Leonard), Nashville * 2010: Sugar,

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five Coll ...

* 2007: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Everything Is Separated by Water, Bass Museum, Miami and

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

(in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 2006: I Am Here, curated by Sergio Risaliti, Galleria Pack (now Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio), Milan, Italy (performance in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 2005: Back Yard, Dreams, Julie Saul Gallery, New York * 2005: New Work, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami * 2004: Threads of Memory, Dak'Art, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art, 6th edition (in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 2004: Elevata, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston * 2004: Talking Pictures, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami * 2004: Something New, Something Old, Schneider Gallery, Chicago * 2003: Interiority or Hill Sided Moon, La Marrana, Montemarcello, Italy (in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 2003: One Thousand Ways to Say Goodbye,

Henie Onstad Kunstsenter The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is an art museum located at Høvikodden in Bærum municipality in Akershus, Akershus county, Norway. It is situated on a headland jutting into the Oslofjord, approximately southwest of Oslo. History The artcentre ...

, Oslo, Norway, (in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 2002–2003: María Magdalena Campos-Pons,

North Dakota Museum of Art The North Dakota Museum of Art (NDMOA) is the official art museum of the American state of North Dakota. Located on the campus of the University of North Dakota, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, the museum is a private not-for-profit institution. ...

, Grand Forks * 2002: M.M. Campos-Pons, Galleria Pack (now Galleria Giampaolo Abbondio), Milan, Italy * 2001: Nesting, Schneider Gallery, Chicago * 2000: Nesting, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston * 1998: Unfolding Desires,

Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literatu ...

, Buffalo * 1998: Spoken Softly with Mama,

, Ottawa,(in collaboration with Neil Leonard) * 1998: History of People... Part I, "A Town Portrait,"

Lehman College Lehman College is a public college in New York City, United States. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, it became an independent college in 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United ...

, NJ * 1998: M.M. Campos-Pons, Sustenance, Martha Schneider Gallery, Chicago * 1997: Abridor de Caminos, Martha Schneider Gallery, Chicago * 1997: M.M. Campos-Pons, New Work, Ambrosino Gallery, Coral Gables * 1997: When I am not Here. Estoy Alla, The Caribbean Cultural Center, New York * 1996: M.M. Campos-Pons, New Work, Martha Schneider Gallery, Chicago * 1994: Recent Work, Miami Dade Community College Gallery, Miami * 1994: History of People Who Were Not Heroes, Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA * 1993: Let me Tell You, INTAR, Latin American Gallery, New York * 1993: Racially Inscribed Body, Akin Gallery, Boston * 1992: Como el Cuerpo de un Hombre es un Arbol … / … How the Body of a Person is a Tree …, Gallery La Centrale/Powerhouse, Montreal, Canada * 1991: A Woman at the border/Una Mujer en la Frontera, SOHO 20 Gallery, New York * 1991: Amuletos/Amulets, Burnaby Art Gallery, B.C., Canada * 1990: A Woman at the Border/Una Mujer en la Frontera, Presentation Room JPL Building, Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada * 1989: Isla/Island, Castillo de la Fuerza/Castle of Royal Force, Havana, Cuba * 1988: Erotic Garden or Some Annotations on Hypocrisy/Jardin Erotico, Kennedy Building Gallery,

, Boston * 1985: Acoplamientos/Coupling, Gallery L, Havana, Cuba

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campos Pons, Maria Magdalena 1959 births Living people 20th-century American women artists 20th-century Cuban women artists 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 21st-century Cuban women artists Cuban people of Yoruba descent Cuban people of Chinese descent Cuban people of Catalan descent Cuban contemporary artists Cuban expatriates in Canada Cuban emigrants to the United States Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni American artists of Chinese descent American people of Yoruba descent American people of Catalan descent 21st-century American academics Hispanic and Latino American artists American art educators American women academics Vanderbilt University faculty Instituto Superior de Arte alumni Academic staff of the Instituto Superior de Arte National Art Schools (Cuba) alumni MacArthur Fellows School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts faculty Naturalized citizens of the United States Cuban art educators

Early life and education

Career

Collaboration with Neil Leonard

Art

Public collections (selection)

Awards

Further reading

References