Borderless: Artist’s Books by Enrique Chagoya

As a child growing up in Mexico City, Enrique Chagoya often visited the monuments at Teotihuacán with his family. Chagoya’s ongoing study of Mesoamerican history and the legacy of colonialism continue to inform his politically charged work as a prominent artist and professor of art at Stanford University. In the books on view in Borderless, he addresses history in a new way.​

Chagoya’s pieces take their form from accordion-fold books of the Mayans, Mixtec-Zapotecs, and Aztecs that were painted on amate, a paper made from the bark of wild fig trees. Chagoya’s collaged, time-traveling, absurdist overlays manage to conflate concepts of anthropology with contemporary sociopolitical issues to create a head-spinning and potent remix of history. He calls it “reverse anthropology,” a humorous way to see ourselves in the mirror, but the deeper political messages are also clear. 

This is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Chagoya’s artist’s books.

Credit: Overview from museum website