Blood of the Nopal: Tanya Aguiñiga & Porfirio

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At the Fowler Museum, interdisciplinary fiber artists Tanya Aguiñiga and Porfirio Gutiérrez will be featured in an exhibition of new commissions and existing work, alongside Oaxacan textiles from the Fowler collection. This multivocal exhibition will center ancestral knowledge and technical experimentation, and also brings a special focus to issues of immigration and labor justice.

First cultivated by the Zapotec peoples around 500 B.C., cochineal is derived from an insect that lives on the opuntia (prickly pear) cactus. Its chemical ingenuity, stability, and chromatic intensity changed the course of art around the world. Despite the global scale and impact of cochineal, its spiritual, medicinal, and technical origins within Indigenous Mexican communities remain little understood. Sangre de Nopal offers a case study in multi-generational innovation, acknowledging the scientific knowledge and cultural heritage embedded in the cultivation of cochineal.