Drawing from his experiences with illness, migration and a personal understanding of how trauma manifests in the body, artist and healer Guadalupe Maravilla creates sculpture, performances, and sound baths in the service of healing.

Maravilla views his Disease Throwers sculptures – which are at once headdresses, instruments and shrines incorporating conch shells, singing bowls, flutes, crystals and gongs - as healing instruments. The objects are collected from his migratory route and then charge his sculpture with energy. The Disease Throwers have been activated in museums and community spaces nationally and internationally.

His work questions the role of contemporary art and its function in generative and ethical ways. The optimism and generosity embodied in this work upends hierarchical relationships between artist and viewer, and artist and participant.

photo: Emmanuel Sanchez Monsalve, Vogue Mexico