Efiɛ Gallery is hosting I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water, renowned Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s first solo exhibition in the Middle East. Curated by Faridah Folawiyo, the show marks the opening of Efiɛ Gallery’s new space in Alserkal Avenue and will be open to the public until 25 May 2025.
At the heart of the exhibition is a newly conceived version of Sugar/Bittersweet, one of Campos-Pons’s most iconic sculptural works. This site-specific installation features 12 antique African spears sourced from collections within the UAE and mounted on traditional West African stools. Each spear is adorned with hand-blown glass rings inspired by panela, or unrefined cane sugar, cast in earthy tones of brown, green, and translucent black. Evoking a field of sugarcane, the installation meditates on the artist’s deep personal and ancestral ties to Cuba’s sugar plantations, while also reflecting on the intertwined histories of enslaved Africans and Chinese indentured labourers.
The exhibition also showcases Campos-Pons’s latest series of paintings on paper, including two large-scale pieces, that explore plant and animal life native to Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. These vibrant, richly detailed compositions underscore the artist’s enduring interest in the interconnectedness of life, migration, and memory. Hibiscus blossoms, sugarcane stalks, and guava leaves appear throughout, each botanical bearing layers of cultural and symbolic resonance.
An immersive soundscape, created in collaboration with musician and Campos-Pons’s partner Kamaal Malak, further enriches the sensory experience of the exhibition. A printed catalogue accompanies the show, with essays by Folawiyo, Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, Sabrina Moura, and Grace Aneiza Ali, offering deeper insights into Campos-Pons’ practice and the exhibition’s core themes.
About the artist
María Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959, Matanzas, Cuba) is a Nashville-based interdisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, performance, painting, video, and installation. She graduated from Havana’s Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in 1985 and later in 1988 completed her MFA at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Currently, she is a professor at Vanderbilt University at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN, USA).
Campos-Pons’s hometown is historically linked to the sugar industry and Afro-Cuban traditions, which play central roles in her art. She delves into themes of diaspora, memory, postcolonial legacy, spirituality, feminism, migration, and identity. Campos-Pons’s art often draws from her Yoruba and Chinese ancestry and her family’s connection to slavery and indentured labour on sugar plantations. Her artworks frequently incorporate symbolic materials like sugar, glass, and organic matter, creating immersive experiences that speak to the cycles of history, trauma, and healing.
Campos-Pons has displayed her creations in numerous exhibitions across the globe, which include After Rain, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (Diriyah, KSA, 2024); Documenta14, with Neil Leonard, Athens School of Fine Arts and Kulturzentrum Schlachthof Kassel (solo) (Germany, 2017); Llega Fefa 11th Havana Biennial (Wifredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba, 2012); NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith, P.S.1 (MoMA, Long Island City, NY, USA, 2009); and Authentic/Ex-centric: Africa in and Out Africa, 49th Venice Biennale (Italy, 2001), among others.
Campos-Pons’ work is in prominent collections such as the Brooklyn Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), Vancouver Art Gallery (Canada), and Ludwig Forum for International Art (Aachen, Germany), to name a few. Among her many honours are the MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant, 2023), the Pérez Prize (2021), and the Montalvo Award for Visual Arts (2018).
To get more information about I Am Soil. My Tears Are Water, please go to the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might be interested in viewing Samur by Chinese artist Zheng Bo at the Jameel Arts Centre.
