Tlali

Tlali (Nahuatl languages: Tlalli: land or earth; pronunciation) is a sculpture depicting the face of an Indigenous woman by the Mexican contemporary artist Pedro Reyes. It was installed at a wing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which opened in April 2026.

Originally, a similar large-scale version depicting a colossal head was planned to replace the Monument to Christopher Columbus on Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma in March 2022, while a smaller version was exhibited at the New York City's Lisson Gallery in May 2021. The version intended for Paseo de la Reforma was inspired by the Olmec colossal heads, and was conceived to honor 500 years of the resistance of Indigenous women. The government of Mexico City, headed by Claudia Sheinbaum, announced in October 2020 that the monument to Columbus would be removed from its plinth, officially for restoration. She subsequently announced that a public consultation would be held to determine the statue's future, but it ultimately did not take place. In September 2021, Sheinbaum announced that Tlali would replace the monument to Columbus following a request from 5,000 Indigenous women to decolonize the avenue.

The announcement of Tlali, its design and name, and the selection of Reyes as its sculptor received mixed reactions, including from Indigenous people. The decision to remove the Columbus statue also generated controversy and became part of the debate surrounding the sculpture. Following criticism, Sheinbaum said that a committee would determine the project's future, and a month later she stated that a copy of The Young Woman of Amajac would be placed there instead. However, feminists intervened the empty Columbus' plinth and installed their own proposal, the Glorieta de las mujeres que luchan. Although the Mexico City government never formally declared the Tlali project canceled, journalists and scholars have generally regarded it as such.

The version installed at the LACMA lacks several features present in the original Mexico City proposal and, according to the museum, differs in both purpose and meaning. Nevertheless, it received criticism linked to the earlier project in Mexico City.