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Artist to Artist James Nguyen and Guadalupe Maravilla

27 January 2025

In the Utzon Room

Talks and Ideas

Today’s artist in conversation, here and now.

Focusing on art, ritual and activism, Australian-Vietnamese artist James Nguyen and American-El Salvadorian Guadalupe Maravilla delve into how ancestral knowledge can be channelled to heal the body, mind and spirit of trauma.

With experiences of escaping war and refugee migration histories, the artists candidly attest to the power of art and how artists can hold space for survival, resilience and building community – complicating our understanding of artists in Western society.

In this intimate discussion in the Utzon Room, James and Guadalupe will share their personal histories and their connection to displacement, belonging and cultural memory. 

Useful information:

[James] confronts ideas about access and blockage, what can be translated, the gaps and slippage between understandings and cross-cultural exchange.

The Age

The notion of healing and rebirth permeates Maravilla’s work.

The New York Times

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