For Calel, rather than an expression of individuality, art is a way to pass down knowledge and understanding through generations, amplifying long historical traditions and communal bonds. At its heart, his work honors the idea that knowledge is shared, not owned.
Calel often uses recycled or readily available supplies, echoing how people build in his community. On the Bluhm Family Terrace, Calel presents a hut made from recycled materials, similar to the practical shelters common in the countryside near his home. In Kaqchikel, the artist’s first language, these huts are called K’ojay, which translates to “we have a house” or “we have a future.” Families often place these huts near fields or gardens to store tools, the season’s harvest, and firewood for the colder months—items to sustain life throughout the course of the year.
Inside the hut are two sculptures that anchor the installation. One gathers ears of corn, sacred in Mayan cosmology—the material from which the gods created human beings. The other is a turtle, a figure linked to stories about the Earth’s creation as well as the world’s balance, which is carried on the turtle’s shell. Outside the hut, a woodpile and ceramic mountains of corn and pumpkins turn the terrace into a living landscape where practical needs and ceremonial meanings merge.
Moving this everyday rural architecture from Chi Xot, where Calel was born and lives today, to downtown Chicago allows different histories to meet. For some visitors, the hut may recall a backyard shed; for others, it may bring to mind memories of field shelters and shared labor. Calel’s work suggests that a museum can hold more than objects: it can hold relationships to land, to family, and to each other. As the artist notes, “The world is what you know, what you can reach for.”
Edgar Calel: Corn Mountain of Life (Ixim Juyu K’aslem) is curated by Giampaolo Bianconi, Dittmer Associate Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art.
Sponsors
This exhibition is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago with major funding from the Bluhm Family Endowment Fund, which supports exhibitions of modern and contemporary sculpture.
