Keynote IEW '24: María Magdalena Campos Pons
Keynote - María Magdalena Campos Pons
Date: Monday, November 18
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: Freeman Auditorium (Room 205 - Woldenberg Art Center)
***Reception will follow immediately after the keynote session***
María Magdalena Campos-Pons is a renowned Cuban multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the complex intersections of memory, spirituality, and identity, particularly as they relate to personal and collective histories in the Caribbean. Her artistic practice spans a wide range of mediums, including photography, performance, sculpture, drawing, painting, and video. Through richly layered, multimedia installations, she addresses themes of displacement, inequality, and the entanglement of personal and global narratives.
In addition to her own artistic work, Campos-Pons is a leader in advancing platforms for other artists. She founded the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice, an organization that fosters collaboration between artists and institutions from the U.S. South and the global South, supporting work that resists and repairs legacies of inequality. She is also the creator of "Intermittent Rivers", a multi-artist initiative launched in Matanzas, Cuba, as part of the 2019 Havana Biennial.
Campos-Pons holds degrees from the National School of Art and the Higher Institute of Art in Havana, and completed her MFA at the Massachusetts College of Art. She has held prestigious positions such as the Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University and currently serves as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair and Professor of Fine Arts at Vanderbilt University. Her work has been featured at major international venues, including the Venice Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, National Portrait Gallery, and Brooklyn Museum, cementing her influence on contemporary art and her contributions to the global dialogue on identity and social justice.
