Las Cruces, NM—The NMSU Art Museum is pleased to present Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium, the first exhibition to pair 19th–20th century retablos from the NMSU Permanent Art Collection with new works by contemporary Latinx artists. Guest curated by Dr. Emmanuel Ortega, Marilynn Thoma Scholar and Assistant Professor in Art of the Spanish Americas at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), this exhibition sheds light on the understudied iconographic and ideological aspects of ex-votos, a type of retablo (small devotional painting) depicting miracles painted on tin and found materials.
The NMSU Art Museum houses the largest collection of Mexican retablos in the U.S. This exhibition demonstrates the important place retablos hold in the history of the Americas; it recontextualizes studies of contemporary devotion in Latin America and the U.S. by commissioning artists to research the retablo collection. This show results in site-specific works that consider how retablos are more than by-products of colonialism, illuminating current socio-political issues of class, race, and gender through artistic methodologies of resistance.

Emergent Latinx artists selected by Dr. Ortega will utilize the historic retablo collection to create and respond to ex-votos that challenge classification as part of the Mexican folk-art tradition depicting transhistorical religious narratives. The scale of the commissioned works, experimentation with medium, and disparate approaches to contemporary devotion represent new perspectives on this important and often overlooked genre of art. “Artists undertake a dialogue between historic and new works allowing us to make sense of ex-votos beyond ethnographic and artistic hierarchies.” says Dr. Ortega. Invited artists include Justin Favela, Eric J. García, Francisco Guevara, Dan Hernandez, Juan Molina Hernández, John Jota Leaños, Guadalupe Maravilla, Yvette Mayorga, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Krystal Ramirez, Sandy Rodriguez, Xochi Solis, and José Villalobos.
Commissions in the UAM’s Contemporary Gallery include an installation by Chicago-based artist Yvette Mayorga of a “Pink Chapel” using her signature sculptural ceramic piping method and “frosted” found objects resembling French Rococo votive offerings. Created during a week-long residency in Las Cruces, NM, this work represents Mayorga’s completion of a personal pilgrimage, begun 20 years ago at the Santuario del Santa Niño de Atocha de Plateros in Zacatecas, Mexico, culminating in a visit to the Santuario de Chimayo in New Mexico. Additionally, Mexican-based artist Francisco Guevara, presents 28 panels made with pre-Columbian pigments and colonial artistic techniques to form a large-scale installation. This work addresses the intersection of the politics of taste and the visual culture of Catholic devotion in reference to the development of class ideologies in colonial and contemporary Mexico.
The curatorial approach for this exhibit has been collaborative, spanning communities in Las Cruces, NM and Chicago, IL. Dr. Ortega organized an undergraduate seminar at UIC where conversations about critical approaches to ex-votos ranged from new ways to consider translation to a reconsideration of outdated art-historical language that categorizes ex-votos as folk art. English translations of the original Spanish texts created as part of this seminar will be displayed alongside the Mexican retablos within the Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery. Themes surrounding domesticity, medical history, and pre-columbian devotion considers how resilience in historical material culture can engender powerful dialogues that shape new approaches to cultural issues.
In addition to the Contemporary and Retablo Gallery, The Bunny Conlon Modern and Contem- porary Art Gallery will serve as an anchor between historic and contemporary ex-votos, featuring Guadalupe Maravilla’s collaborative works with Mexico City-based ex-voto artist Daniel Vilchis. Four generations of the Vilchis family have been producing ex-votos for over half a century. The introduction of the Vilchis family into the museum’s retablo collection demonstrates the enduring legacy of this artistic practice and represents new directions in which historical collections can grow.
Contemporary Ex-Votos includes a plethora of educational videos and community program- ming. Highlights include a virtual lecture with artist Francisco Guevara, a panel titled “Curatorial Practices in the Borderlands,” and a screening of the film Nazarín with Emmanuel Ramos-Barajas of Borderless Cultures. Youth programming includes a series of OutsmART programs with a local artist that explores physical and digital collage using ex-voto iconography. The exhibition will also include a commissioned video from Unsettling Journeys, an art historical educational YouTube channel dedicated to uncovering the histories that have shaped Mexican, Latin American, and Latinx identities.

Contemporary Ex-Votos: Devotion Beyond Medium presents artist-led dialogues that bring forth new critical perspectives to challenge established models of examination and contemplation of a historical medium. As museums around the country reckon with historical collections and how to display them, this exhibit exposes the power of new generations of artists to examine material culture embedded in colonial violence.
On view September 30 through December 22, 2022, join us for the opening reception in the University Art Museum on Friday, September 30, 2022. A curatorial walk-through with exhibition curator Dr. Emmanuel Ortega will take place on Saturday, October 1. Admission to all
programming is free and open to the public. A detailed calendar with associated programs and dates is available on the website. For more information, please visit uam.nmsu.edu.
This exhibition has been graciously supported by: The National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico–Devasthali Family Foundation Fund, the NMSU College of Arts & Sciences, the NMSU Department of Art’s Lilian Steinman Visiting Artists & Scholars Lecture Series; the Friends of the University Art Museum; the Mullennix Art Museum Fund; The George & Lucy Gray Endowed Art Fund; and several private donors.