Regina José Galindo


Regina José Galindo is a Guatemalan performance artist who specializes in body art. She was born in Guatemala City.

Early work

Remarkably, for an artist who is known for the political themes of her work, Galindo grew up in a lower middle class household where politics generally, and the Guatemalan civil war more specifically, were not discussed. She attended secretarial school and her career as a secretary was not a successful one. Her work as a poet developed through attending workshops and groups which met in friends' houses, at which time she wrote the pieces that became part of her book Personal and Intransmisible.
After meeting Jessica Lagunas and Marianela Dias, performance art grew in importance in her practice. Aníbal López has been a lifelong mentor for Galindo, and is noted as an important influence on her work. Galindo's first performances were based upon her earlier written works.

Performances

She first gave two performances in Guatemala in 1999, and gained international fame. One of her well-known acts include ¿Quién Puede Borrar las Huellas?, made in 2003, in which she walked from the Congress of Guatemala building to the National Palace, dipping her bare feet at intervals in a white basin full of human blood as a vigorous protest against the presidential candidacy of Guatemala’s former dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt.
Another of her notable works was titled Perra, in which she carved the Spanish word perra, or bitch, on her legs, in protest against violence against women.
She frequently collaborates with other art performers, including compatriot Aníbal López.

List of solo exhibitions

List of group exhibitions

In October 2008, Galindo exhibited alongside renowned artists like Tania Bruguera and Jimmie Durham at MoMA PS1 for NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith, an exhibition co-organized by The Menil Collection.
Between March 25 and June 8, 2014, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea exhibited a selection of Galindo's work in Estoy Viva. The show was divided in five sections: Politics, Woman, Violence, Organic and Death. Works such as ¿Quién puede borrar las huellas?, Himenoplastia, Mientras, ellos siguen libres and Caparazon were presented alongside newer works that had not been exhibited before in Italy.
In January of 2020, Galindo was part of Artpace’s exhibit titled Visibilities: Intrepid Women of Artpace. Curated by Erin K. Murphy, Visibilities not only kicks off the nonprofit's 25th anniversary celebration, but also highlights past artists from their International Artist-in-Residency program, such as Galindo who was a resident in Spring 2008. In Visibilities, a video that Galindo created during the 2008 residency is being showcased at Artpace for the first time.

Recognition

Galindo received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2005, in the category of “artists under 30”, for her video Himenoplastia. This work, nevertheless, got a particularly hostile reception during its first showing in Guatemala, in 2004. The controversial work depicted surgical reconstruction of the artist’s hymen.
In October 2009, Exit Art showed a solo exhibition of Galindo's work as part of their SOLO series and Performance in Crisis program.
A book on Galindo’s performance work has been published in Italy. Galindo is also a writer of poetry and narrative; in 1998 she received the Myrna Mack Foundation's Premio Unico de Poesía in Guatemala for Personal e intransmisible.
In 2011 the jury of the 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana awarded her with the Grand Prize for the works: Confesión, 2007 which was produced in Spain and inspired by the extraordinary rendition flights uncovered by a team of local reportes in Palma de Mallorca, and the Prince Claus Awards.

List of works

YearPerformanceLocationComment
2014“Exhalación ”PAC MilanFor this performance Galindo lied naked at the ground floor of the pavilion. Under cold temperatures, one person at a time was invited to hold a mirror under her nose. The clouded mirror being the only sign of life, contradicting all of the signs of an apparent death.
2011“ALARMA”Banco de España Metro Station, Madrid, SpainA site–specific video installation by Regina José Galindo, commissioned by La Caja Blanca for the tunnels adjacent to the vaults which protect Spain’s national gold reserves.
2007“Confesión”Palma de Mallorca, SpainInspired by waterboarding. Based on recently declassified CIA documents.

A videotape of this performance was presented as an installation during the Sydney Biennial of 2010.

A videotape of this performance was presented as an installation at the Venice Biennial of 2009.

‘Performing Torture’, Essay by , preface to "Confesión", Regina José Galindo, to be published in 2011.
2006“Corona”Main Square, Guatemala Citypublic installation, commemorating over 6040 killings during the year Peace Agreements were signed, ending the 36-year-long war.
2005“Perra”Prometeo Galery, Milan, ItalySelf-flagellation with a knife, carving the word "perra" into her skin, protesting violence to women in Guatemala during 2005.
2005" Blows"In this performance piece, the artist hits herself 279 times while in a box, commemorating the 279 Guatemalan women who died at the hands of sexist violence within the first half of 2005.
2004“El Peso de la Sangre”Main Square, Guatemala CityGalindo sat under a structure in Guatemala City's main square as a liter of blood was emptied, drop by drop, over Galindo's head and clothes.
2003“¿Quién puede borrar las huellas?”Guatemala CityGalindo walked through the streets carrying a bowl of human blood, repeatedly stepping in the bowl to create bloody footprints, commemorating the victims of the genocide during the Civil War.
2001“Angelina”GuatemalaFor the duration of this work, Galindo spent one month dressed as a maid.
2000“Sobremesa”Guatemala Cityperformance/installation
1999“El cielo llora tanto que debería ser mujer”Guatemala CityIn her first performance work, a stark naked Galindo continuously submerged herself in a tub of water for as long as she can hold her breath. It was performed in a higher middle class shopping mall.
1999“Lo voy a gritar al viento”Post Office Building, Guatemala CityFor 30 minutes, Galindo hanged herself in the arch of the main post office building in Guatemala City, and read her poems aloud without the use of a microphone. The texts talked about gender issues. The day after, the performance was featured on the front page of the main newspapers in the country.