Exhibitions
Marta Palau: between the earth, the body and memory
From November 15, 2025, to May 3, 2026, rooms 1 and 2 of the MUAC (University Museum of Contemporary Art) will host "My Paths Are Terrestrial ," an exhibition that revisits the work of Marta Palau , a pioneering artist who conceived of textiles in dialogue with natural materials. Her multidisciplinary career encompassed sculpture, installation, drawing, and writing, the latter recently rediscovered after access to her personal archive. Using notebooks and diaries, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on her work, where magic and history intertwine, inviting the public to explore the creative paths of a vision that remains profoundly contemporary and inspiring.
For Palau, art is a bridge to humanity—understood as the intersection of nature and history—and becomes both resistance and vindication. This dialogue is expressed through the concepts of earth and body, also exploring their opposites: life and death, Eros and Thanatos. In his work, earth and body are places of exile and illness, but also of fertility, transformation, and healing.
Organized by the Museu Tàpies (Mtà) in Barcelona and the MUAC at UNAM, with conceptualization by Imma Prieto and Amanda de la Garza, and curated by Prieto, the exhibition articulates these themes: the land, linked to exile and refuge, understood as both wound and scar; and the body, which embodies both the migrant's pain and loss, as well as the possibility of regeneration and life. The exhibition delves into the artist's biography, projecting her personal experience onto works that engage with contemporary conflicts, opening spaces for reflection and transformation.
Among the central pieces are Cascada (1978) and Ilerda V (1973), a tapestry that alludes to the Roman city of Lleida and the textile tradition that Palau explored during her stay in Catalonia in 1968. The artist recalled: “I start with the materials; once I have the materials, they tell me how… I was born in a small farming village, Albesa, and the land is sacred. Tapestry came to me through that.” Her relationship with textiles was also enriched by ancestral traditions from the Americas and by her apprenticeship with Josep Grau-Garriga, a master textile artist who collaborated with Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies, strengthening her connection to her parents' homeland.
Throughout her career, Palau explored diverse facets, including cultural management, creating platforms to support artists in Mexico, and gained international recognition, with exhibitions in museums and major biennials, such as those in São Paulo and Havana. "My Paths Are Terrestrial" allows us to appreciate the power of her work, where the earth and the body become memory, resistance, and the possibility of transformation.
