Hellen Ascoli: Cien Tierras

Hellen Ascoli: Cien tierras is, a solo exhibition by Guatemalan artist Hellen Ascoli curated by Amara Antilla at La Nueva Fábrica. Following its debut in Cincinnati in 2021, the exhibition is complemented by new works developed by the artist during her residency at La Nueva Fábrica in 2022.

Hellen Ascoli’s multidisciplinary approach to art making derives from an active engagement with weaving, movement, listening, and writing, which she applies to an exploration of the political relationship between body, object, and environment. Working primarily with the backstrap loom—a tool that attaches to the body of its user and to the space in which they are working—Ascoli generates ideas and experiences that are rooted in place, and which are therefore contextual and relational.

The exhibition’s title, Cien tierras, which is shared by two bodies of work included therein, translates as “one hundred earths.” Here, “cien tierras” evokes the artist’s diasporic history and the multiplicities that underpin her practice of weaving while connecting it to other forms of recorded knowledge. Reflecting Ascoli’s collaborative process, the exhibition features contributions by poet and weaver Negma Coy, painter Jorge de León, sound artist and musician Sofia Jade Tanski, artist Luisa González-Reiche, artist Gabriel Rodríguez and object designer Karl Williamson.

La Nueva Fábrica
#55 Plazuela Central de Santa Ana.
Santa Ana, Guatemala.
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Saturdays from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
https://lanuevafabrica.org/