María José Murillo is an artist from Peru pursuing an MFA in Fiber. Through weaving and referencing both modern and pre-Columbian art, she explores mestizaje and reclaims her non-Western Andean roots in response to the colonial oppression of Indigenous cultures. Her practice seeks to draw awareness to how colonialism still impacts Latin America today through weaving's ability to simultaneously create structure and surface.

1. /// MARÍA JOSÉ MURILLO //
// PORTFOLIO

2. During the past two years, while pursuing an MFA in Fiber,
my artistic practice began a process of decolonization by
learning how to weave for the first time, contradictorily
outside my country. This encountering with textile
processes and conversations around Weaving within the
contemporary art discourse opened for me multiple
dimensions where I could hear the voice of my ancestors.
My work seeks to explore what
Mestizaje means for me and South
Americans in relation to the antagonistic
cultural identity that we embody as a
result of an originary trauma caused by
colonialism and white supremacy. I
conceive my art practice as a way of
reclaiming my non-western heritage by
going back to my Andean roots which
were not present in my westernized
education as a BFA student in Peru.
By referencing Modernism & Pre-Columbian art through weaving, ceramics, drawing, and collages -while using both natural and synthetic
materials- I am trying to draw awareness of the oppression of Indigenous cultures over Western priorities. I want my viewers to engage with my
work by understanding the omnipresent experiences of Colonialism still present today in Latin America.
The art and cultural legacy that we have
inherited from our Peruvian ancestors (the
highest textile culture known in the world)
has been completely erased from our artistic
educational system. Traditional materials
such as plant or animal fibers, as well as
processes such as weaving and natural
dyeing, have been largely excluded from our
institutions and never been taught. This
exclusion is rooted in a hierarchical
differentiation between popular/folk art or
‘craft’ and modern/contemporary western art.
The medium of weaving has the uniqueness of creating structure
and surface simultaneously. During its slow but meaningful
process, the Subject starts to fade, and a profound sense of
community upraises through the intertwining of the threads. As a
maker, I never felt a similar sensation before, especially throughout
those six years of undergrad school, where I was encouraged by
my professors to cover the surface of a textile (!) with pigment
under a Europeanized understanding of color and art itself.

3. ////////////////////// URDIENDO EL PASADO,
TRAMANDO
EL FUTURO /////////////

5. Grids (background)

6. Detail of woven piece

7. Textile in process
(Details)

8. Urdiendo el Pasado, Tramando el Futuro, 2019
hand-woven fabric, wool, plastic ribbon, rubber rug pads, plastic bags
350 x 340 cm (grids)

9. ////////////////////// THE PRESENT,
/////////////
/////////////
THE PRESENCE /////////////

10. The Present, the Presence, 2019 (SER SUR: Soledad Muñoz & María José Murillo), hand-woven rubber rug pads, plastic bags, 54 x 273 x 20 cm

14. ////////////////////// NO HUBO ENCUENTRO,
FUE UN CHOQUE DEVASTADOR,
DESTRUCTOR,
GENOCIDA
HUBO EPISTEMICIDIO /////////////

15. Epistemicidio, 2018, hand woven fabric on Jacquard loom,
wool, 252 x 124 cm

17. Huaca Prieta, 2018, hand woven fabric on Jacquard loom, wool, polyester and cotton, 115 x 86 cm

18. 90 Woven Business Cards, 2018, hand woven fabric on a Jacquard loom, wool, 135 x 105 cm

19. Detail
Textile in process
(Detail)

20. fragmento, 2018, 75 x 57 X 11 cm, hand woven fabric on a Jacquard loom, wool.

21. Fragmento (Detail)

22. Chicha, 2018, hand woven fabric on floor loom,
double cloth, wool, 212 x 116 cm

23. Textile in process (Detail)

24. TEXTILE
///////////////////////
TEXT
///////////////////////
TILE
HARD
TEXTILES

25. Studio view, 2018, SAIC

26. Text-tiles, 3d clay printed tiles,
2018

27. Tiles, 3d clay printer

28. 3d clay printer process,
2018

29. Nasca, 3d clay printer, 2018

30. SAIC floor

31. ecos de mi alma mestiza / echoes of my mestizasoul, 2018, 154 x 273 x 20 cm, non- slip rug pads, non-stick sheet.

33. untitled, 2018, 244 x 102 cm, hand woven fabric on
floor loom, double cloth, linen and polyester.

34. Cuaderno de registro I, 2017

35. Cuaderno de registro I, 2017

36. untitled, 2017, non-slip rugpads and
plastic.

37. Studio, 2017

39. © María José Murillo 2020