Atrium Series: Gala Porras-Kim, Dainzu, Building A, Stone 1, illuminated text, 2022.

Art at Americas Society’s Atrium Series is pleased to present Gala Porras-Kim’s Dainzu, Building A, Stone 1, illuminated text, 2022.

Porras-Kim’s Dainzu, Building A, Stone 1, illuminated text uses reflective glass beads to portray an undeciphered Zapotec inscription found on a stone tablet in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The glass beads illuminate the engravings and reveal different messages based on each viewer’s angle. This invites audiences to reevaluate their interpretation of the carvings, while suggesting that its meaning and significance is wide-ranging. The work explores how the angle of the view can lead to a different understanding of the perceived message.

Dainzu, Building A, Stone 1, illuminated text is part of a larger body of work, in which Porras-Kim recreates undeciphered Mesoamerican stone engravings to propose different ways of seeing and interpreting. Inspired by her studies of the Zapotec language, the works are both aesthetic and utilitarian, capable of serving as a means for an outsider to access information about an unfamiliar culture.

The Atrium Series presents artwork from artists across the Americas in our David Rockefeller Atrium. This series highlights important collections from the region in our lobby, allowing the exhibited artworks to reach the diverse audience of Americas Society’s program, including Latin American cultural and political leaders.

Dainzu, Building A, Stone 1, illuminated text will be on view from September 4, 2024 through December 14, 2024.

About the artist

Gala Porras-Kim (b. 1984, Bogotá; lives and works in Los Angeles and London) received an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (2012), an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (2009), and BA from University of California, Los Angeles (2007).

Solo exhibitions have been held at Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2024); Pitzer College Art Galleries (2024); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2023); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2023); Fowler Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla (2023); Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2023); Gasworks, London (2022); Amant, Brooklyn (2022); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2019). Selected group exhibitions have been held at Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2024); Liverpool Biennial (2023); 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021); 13th Gwangju Biennale (2021); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2021, 2017); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2021, 2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2019, 2016); PinchukArtCentre, Kiev (2019); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019, 2017); Para Site, Hong Kong (2019); and Seoul Museum of Art (2017). Porras-Kim is a recipient of Gold Prize (2023), Art Matters Foundation Grant (2019), Artadia Los Angeles Award (2017), Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant (2016), Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2015), Creative Capital Grant for Visual Artists (2015), and California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2013). Porras-Kim has participated in residencies at Getty Research Institute (2021-22); Delfina Foundation, London (2021); Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Cambridge (2020); La Tallera, Proyecto Siqueiros, Cuernavaca (2019); Fundación Casa Wabi, Oaxaca (2016); and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2010).

Porras-Kim’s work is in the collections of Brooklyn Museum; Cc Foundation, Shanghai; Dallas Museum of Art; DePaul Art Museum, Chicago; Fonds régional d'art contemporain des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Kadist Art Foundation; Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami; Seoul Museum of Art; University of Richmond Museums; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.