Over the years, we’ve had the amazing opportunity to capture the voices and practices of dozens of artists with Art21, and have always admired when an artist’s personal life and biography collide with their artwork.
In the case of Guadalupe Maravilla, he gave us the opportunity to reflect on healing, self and community care, and the careful examination and treatment of generational trauma through art and ritual. We had known about Guadalupe and his practice for some time when Art21 invited us to make this film, and we had a sense that the film might focus on the artist’s narrative, inspired by Guadalupe’s own retablo paintings. However, as we got to know the depth of his work and personal story, and learned more about sound therapy and the artist’s history with it, the film evolved, shifting focus to Guadalupe’s lived experiences with immigration, illness, and other traumas, which inescapably led him to embrace the intersection of art, ritual, and healing in his work.
To experience Lupe’s art is to encounter emotions and sensations that are almost unrecognizable, and we feel that is because art is so rarely considered the best way to approach healing. To that end, we chose to harness our love for magical realism, exploring kaleidoscopic lenses, flares, and VFX in order to fully portray Guadalupe’s deeply sensory practice, which includes offering sound therapy as healing, as well as other rituals developed from and inspired by Guadalupe’s personal journey and Indigenous ancestry. There is a communal, spiritual nature to which Guadalupe approaches these rituals that we were touched and honored to take part in during filming. We are truly grateful to Guadalupe for both his willingness to delve into and share his own difficult past through his work, and also his recognition of art’s ability to heal oneself and others. It is our hope that this film echoes and extends Guadalupe’s healing reach to those tuning in, near and far.