Francisco Muñoz (Tlaxcala, Mexico, 1986)
Francisco Muñoz’s multidisciplinary practice includes ceramic, drawing, collage, painting, textiles, and installations. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, La Esmeralda, in Mexico City, and later at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Lyon, as part of an artistic fellowship program. His work is placed in the questioning and analysis of national identities, especially in aesthetic terms. The artist is originally from Tlaxcala, a crucial place in the imaginary produced by the official history of Mexico regarding the period of the Conquest. In that sense, Muñoz approaches pre-Columbian images and symbols as a part of present-day speeches that are necessary to question and explore.
One of the main axes of his work is the relationship that objects have with different contexts and how their meanings can be reordered through material modifications, conceptual associations, or painting interventions. The possibilities represented by the adaptation of objects to different environments are key to Muñoz’s practice: the identity of each piece is based on multiplicity, on the encounter between its “original” meanings and those it assimilates, both in the process of artistic work and at the point of encounter with its viewers. This syncretism directly connects the conceptual with the material, a line on which his work unfolds. Muñoz’s work can be found in the Alain Servais Collection (Belgium) and in various private collections in Mexico.
He currently lives and works in Mexico City.
Francisco Muñoz
Yukimi-dōrō / Linterna para ver la nieve, 2025
Ceramics and high-fire glazes, anagama kiln
57 x 57 x 50 cm
22 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 19 3/4 in
Francisco Muñoz
Ukiyama / Montaña flotante, 2025
Ceramics and high-fire glazes, anagama kiln
45 x 75 x 37 cm
17 3/4 x 29 1/2 x 14 1/2 in
Francisco Muñoz
Tampopo / Diente de león, 2025
Ceramics and high-fire glazes, anagama kiln
48 x 38 x 38 cm
19 x 15 x 15 in
Francisco Muñoz
Casa hundida, 2025
Ceramics and high-fire glazes, anagama kiln
51 x 71 x 32 cm
20 x 28 x 12 1/2 in
Soe Yu Nwe (Lashio, Myanmar, 1989)
Soe Yu Nwe draws inspiration from Burmese folklore, vernacular arts, and Buddhist and animistic practices. Her sculptures often feature fragmented female bodies transformed into visceral, semi-botanical forms. Reflecting her own mixed Chinese-Myanmar heritage, Nwe’s practice embraces hybridity to explore the multiplicity and fluidity of identity.
One of her recurring mythical motifs is the “Goddess of the Serpent”, a metaphor for the self, rebirth, and femininity – a symbolic challenge to the conservative gender roles traditionally upheld in Myanmar’s Buddhist doctrine. Another significant motif in this exhibition is the head of Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy). Inspired by her encounter with the Kannon (Guanyin) statues at Sanjūsangen-dō in Kyoto where the deity appears as male, unlike the typically female depictions in Myanmar, Nwe began exploring gender identity through this mythological figure, expanding the motif into a new body of work.
In her “Inspiration from Shan State” series, she explored her family’s migration history from Yunnan to Myanmar. In her acquired work at the British Museum’s Burma to Myanmar exhibition, Soe narrated her identity and emotional conflict through the Burmese Python symbol. Soe’s work has been exhibited internationally including institutions such as Leeum Museum of Art (Korea), Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Simose Art Museum (Japan), The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum (Taiwan), National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (Indonesia) and ArtScience Museum (Singapore). Soe was named in 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30: Art & Style. Soe has been awarded the inaugural 2023 Advocacy for the Arts Fellowship from The Rockefeller Foundation and CARE USA.
Currently lives and woks in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai in Thailand.
