Sik’inik chukojol cholaj, chukojol nïm taq jay/ Gritos, voces entre surcos, entre edificios at LaPau Gallery

Fernando Poyón, Al paso de las nubes (detail) (2022). Wood and graphite, 86.5 x 13.75 x 11 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

In Sik’inik chukojol cholaj, chukojol nïm taq jay/ Gritos, voces entre surcos, entre edificios at La Pau Gallery, brothers Ángel and Fernando Poyón present five artworks that communicate the social, political, and spiritual experiences of the Mayan Kaqchikel community of Guatemala. The exhibition is curated by the Kaqjay Chi Tz’i’ Ya’ collective, which seeks to generate spaces of reflection and remembrance of Kaqchikel identity. In Sik’inik, the Poyón brothers revel in Kaqchikel culture while questioning hegemonic national narratives that enabled its erasure.

This erasure is not on a rhetorical level—rather, it has manifested in state-sponsored violence. Between 1960 and 1996, an estimated 200,000 civilians of Mayan origin were killed or “disappeared” by state security forces for allegedly supporting antigovernment rebels.¹ So, for the Poyón brothers and their community, preserving elements of their culture, such as its agricultural history or precolonial spiritual beliefs, is a survival tactic. Their activism moves beyond artistic gestures and into community organizing. Since early October, Guatemalans have been demonstrating against the attack on presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo, who ran on an anticorruption platform.² Members of the country’s Indigenous community, including the Poyón brothers, have traveled hundreds of miles from their pueblos to join the resistance.³

The Poyón brothers’ work highlights Kaqchikel peoples as agriculturalists with a deep connection to the land, particularly the cornfield. Azadónes, or hoes, used to cultivate the soil, appear as a central motif in the exhibition. In the main gallery, Ángel’s installation Ruq’a’ raqän qazadón Su mano, su pie de nuestro azadón/nuestros azadónes (2022), asks us to walk upon it. Pine needles are spread across the floor where rows of azadónes and brooms stand defiantly. The wooden handles of the tools are carved to form raised fists, a universal symbol of solidarity with a social movement. The press release explains that all objects in Mayan Kaqchikel culture possess “k’u’ux,” or a vital energy, granting them a will, powers, and the ability to stand on their own. This concept is beautifully demonstrated in Ruq’a’—the palm leaf brooms and metal azadónes stand upright without any support. The objects, once used for toiling the land and clearing debris, are now symbols of autonomy, resistance, and the fuerza, or strength, of community.

In a separate gallery nearby, Fernando’s sculptural installation Al paso de las nubes (2022) occupies the entire space. A corn stalk composed of hundreds of No. 2 pencils dangles from the ceiling directly above a circular bed of now-wilted flowers native to Guatemala. In previous artworks by the Poyón brothers, pencils have served as a commentary against colonial education and its aim to destroy Indigenous ways of life. Here, without their pink erasers, the pencils refuse that erasure. The sharpened pencils, which have been manipulated to mimic the natural shape of the maize plant, become an instrument of remembrance. For the Poyón brothers, writing and recording Kaqchikel culture is an act of agency. By tapping into the vital energy of these objects, they bridge their contemporary Kaqchikel community with that of their ancestors, modeling a liberation practice that is grounded in the preservation of their community’s rituals and beliefs.

Sik’inik chukojol cholaj, chukojol nïm taq jay/ Gritos, voces entre surcos, entre edificios runs from September 23–December 8, 2023 at LaPau Gallery (3006 W. 7th St. #208 and #211, Los Angeles, CA 90005).

Fernando Poyón, Al paso de las nubes (installation view) (2022). Wood and graphite, 86.5 x 13.75 x 11 inches. LaPau Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Fernando Poyón, Al paso de las nubes (detail) (2022). Wood and graphite, 86.5 x 13.75 x 11 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Ángel Poyón, Ruq’a’ raqän qazadón Su mano, su pie de nuestro azadón/nuestros azadones and Ruq’a’ raqän qameseb’äl Su mano, su pie de nuestra escoba/nuestras escobas, (installation view) (2021; 2022). Wood and palm leaves, 57 x 2 x 1.5 inches each (wood), 17 x 11 x 11 inches each (palm base); cedar wood and metal, 53 x 2.5 x 2 inches each (wood), 12 x 12 x 0.75 inches each (metal base). LaPau Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Ángel Poyón, Ruq’a’ raqän qazadón Su mano, su pie de nuestro azadón/nuestros azadones (detail) (2021). Cedar wood and metal, 53 x 2.5 x 2 inches each (wood), 12 x 12 x 0.75 inches each (metal base). LaPau Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Ángel Poyón, Raspado sobre Azadón (2016). Acrylic on metal, 12.5 x 13.5 x 2 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Fernando Poyón, Retorno al sol (2023). Pencil on paper, 25 x 7.75 x 0.5 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Fernando Poyón, Retorno al sol (detail) (2023). Pencil on paper, 25 x 7.75 x 0.5 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and LaPau Gallery. Photo: Monica Orozco.

Tina Barouti, PhD is an art historian and curator from Los Angeles. She lectures in SAIC’s Art History, Theory, and Criticism department.

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