| Regina José Galindo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1974 Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Occupation | Performance artist |
| Website | |
| http://www.reginajosegalindo.com/ | |
Regina José Galindo (born 1974) is a Guatemalan performance artist who specializes in body art. She was born in Guatemala City.
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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? (Translated: "Who Can Erase the Traces"), 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.[1]
Another of her notable works was titled Perra (2005), in which she carved the Spanish word perra, or bitch, on her legs, in protest against violence against women.[2]
She frequently collaborates with other art performers, including compatriot Aníbal López.
Galindo received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2005, in the category of “artists under 30”, for her video Himenoplastia.[3] 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.[4]
A book on Galindo’s performance work has been published in Italy (Vanilla Edizioni, 2006). 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 (Scripta Coloquia, 2000).
| Year | Performance | Location | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | “ALARMA” | Banco de España Metro Station, Madrid, Spain | A Site–specific video installation by Regina José Galindo, commissioned by La Caja Blanca[5] for the tunnels adjacent to the vaults which protect Spain’s national gold reserves. | |
| 2007 | “Confesión” | Palma de Mallorca, Spain | Inspired by waterboarding. Based on recently declassified CIA documents.[6]
A videotape of this performance was presented as an installation during the Sydney Biennial of 2010. |
|
| 2006 | “Corona” | Plaza Central, Guatemala City | installation, conmemorating over 6040 killings during the Año de la Paz | |
| 2005 | “Perra” | Prometeo Galery, Milan, Italy | self-flagellation with a knife, carving the word "perra" into her skin, protesting the killing of women | |
| 2004 | “El Peso de la Sangre” | Plaza Central, Guatemala City | sitting under structure in plaza as a liter of blood emptied, drop by drop, over Galindo's head and clothes | |
| 2003 | “¿Quién puede borrar las huellas?” | Guatemala City | Galindo walked through the streets carrying a bowl of human blood, repeatedly stepping in the bowl to create bloody footprints | |
| 2001 | “Angelina” | Guatemala | during this work, Galindo spent one month dressed as a maid | |
| 2000 | “Sobremesa” | Guatemala City | performance/installation | |
| 1999 | “El cielo llora tanto que debería ser mujer” | Guatemala City and Madrid, Spain | ||
| “Lo voy a gritar al viento” | Guatemala City |