FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 13, 2024
New York, New York – Art21 is proud to announce the release of a new film: “Guadalupe Maravilla’s ‘Mariposa Relámpago’” premiering Wednesday, February 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET on Art21.org and YouTube. The first 2025 release of Art21’s digital film series, New York Close Up, “Guadalupe Maravilla’s ‘Mariposa Relámpago’” explores the artist’s most ambitious work to date, a former school bus that’s been transformed into a richly decorated, mobile platform for remembrance and healing.
Glowing softly in the West Texas desert night, artist Guadalupe Maravilla’s Mariposa Relámpago, or Lightning Butterfly in English, commemorates and confronts the artist’s journey to the United States as an unaccompanied, undocumented minor fleeing civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s. While Mariposa Relámpago is temporarily stationed along the US-Mexico Border in Marfa, Texas, Maravilla invites both the general public and the nearby border worker community to experience a healing ceremony.
“What’s happening in the border in the United States is a major impact in who I am,” says Maravilla in the film. “I think everyone needs to heal something. There’s a universal way of experiencing healing and it’s by using sound; everyone that’s alive feels it.”
“Through his work, Guadalupe confronts the fears and anxieties that weigh heavily on many communities in the U.S. When we were filming last year, we couldn’t have anticipated releasing the film in the political circumstances we find ourselves in now,” says César Martínez Barba, director. “Our goal was to create something timeless—untethered from a specific moment—but, unfortunately, its relevance today is undeniable. I hope this piece offers viewers a sense of relief or respite.”
Tune in to the digital premiere of “Guadalupe Maravilla’s ‘Mariposa Relámpago’” on Wednesday, February 26, 2024, at 12:00 p.m. ET at Art21.org and on Art21’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/art21org. To learn more, email Art21’s associate director of communications, Hannah DeGarmo, at [email protected].
New York Close Up (NYCU) is devoted to capturing early career artists living and working in New York City. NYCU films have been accepted and honored by over 100 film festivals worldwide, including Academy Awards-qualifying festivals like AmDocs Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, BlackStar, DOC NYC, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Palm Springs ShortFest. NYCU films have also been honored with 2 Webby Award nominations and 9 Vimeo Staff Picks.
New York Close Up is made possible with support from Deborah Beckmann and Jacob Kotzubei, Jessica and Natan Bibliowicz, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Henry Nias Foundation, and individual contributors.
Art21 is the world’s leading source to learn directly from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, the mission of Art21 is to educate and expand access to contemporary art, producing documentary films, resources, and public programs. Learn more at Art21.org.