Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa (Guatemala, 1978) lives and works in Guatemala City. He holds a BFA from Emily Carr University, Vancouver, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was a research fellow at Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht in 2013. Using performance, sound, drawing, and sculpture, Ramírez-Figueroa’s work conjures live and sculptural representations that explore themes of loss, displacement, and cultural resistance. The Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996) is a recurring subject, which although often softened by an absurd and humorous approach, fails to conceal the force of history that precedes it. 

Ramírez-Figueroa has participated in various solo and group exhibitions including Asymmetries, The Power Plant, Toronto (2020); At Small Arms, Toronto Biennial Of Art (2019; The Sixth State, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (2018); The Guardian of the Forest, Proyectos Ultravioleta; Guatemala City (2018); The House of Kawinal, New Museum, New York (2018); The Luminous Grid, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf (2018); Shit Baby and the Crumpled Giraffe, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2017); The Green Ray, daadgalerie, Berlin (2017); Linnæus in Tenebris, CAPC musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux (2017); VIVA ARTE VIVA, 57th Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2017); Two Flamingos Copulating on a Tin Roof, Haus Esters, Krefeld Kunstmuseum, Krefeld (2017); Incerteza Viva, 32 Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2016); God’s Reptilian Finger, Gasworks, London (2015); Rendez-Vous, 13th Lyon Biennale, Lyon (2015); Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2014); A Chronicle of Interventions, Tate Modern, London, (2014); Illy Present Future, Castello di Rivoli, Torino (2013); Beber y Leer El Arcoiris, Casa América, Madrid (2012); Home Works IV, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2008); and 53rd Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Oberhausen, (2007). 

He has been a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Mies Van Der Rohe prize, the Franklin Furnace award, the Akademie Schloss Solitude fellowship (selected by Dan Graham), and the DAAD Berlin Artists-in-Residence fellowship.

Image credits: Lovis Ostenrik