The New Gods | Alejandro Garcia Contreras and Josée Pedneault

Produced in conjunction with the exhibition The New Gods, curated by Shani K Parsons.  

Featuring an extraordinary series of large-scale photographs and a selection of intricate sculptures and paintings, The New Gods examines fantastical rites of spring that have emerged spontaneously within Carrillo Puerto, an isolated village in the mountains of Chiapas. Elsewhere in Mexico it is a day of organized procession, penitence, and mourning, but in this small village it has evolved into an irreverent, chaotic, and carnivalesque celebration of the absurd. Drawing on an unholy mix of religious beliefs, local and popular culture, pagan traditions, and personal mythologies, participants don homemade costumes that are highly transformative, often verging on pure abstraction. The chimerical personalities they assume become an alternate pantheon of strange deities and demons, existing in opposition to the highly codified characters and narratives of the traditional Passion play.

The catalogue contains a curatorial essay and Q+A with the artists by CDCC Founding Director Shani K Parsons. An exhibition checklist, full documentation of all the works in the exhibition, and artist/curator bios are also included.

Artists
Alejandro Garcia Contreras
Josée Pedneault

Curator
Shani K Parsons

Publication date
2015

Binding
Softcover, perfect-bound

Size
9 x 6 inches
82 pages

Language
English

ISBN
978-1-36-707234-3