Guadalupe Maravilla & the Sound of Healing | Art21 "New York Close Up"

(mysterious music)

Someone told me,
when I was a younger artist:

"If you don't see the art that you like,
just invent it yourself."

(chimes)

[Guadalupe Maravilla & the Sound of Healing]

I grew up playing on the
steps of the pyramids

in El Salvador.

I knew I had a deep
connection to the Mayans

and the architecture and their art.

(horn blowing)

Especially the sculptures--

those sculptures,
they were these giant steles

carved out of a rock--

and how they told stories.

But they're also objects
to perform rituals in.

But I'm really not interested in

imitating what they were doing.

I was interested in learning about ritual,

but reinventing, creating my own.

(mysterious music)

[Socrates Sculpture Park,
Queens, New York]

The sculpture at Socrates,

it was my first outdoor sculpture,

made out of recycled aluminum.

(wind blowing)

The sculpture itself,

they're a continuation of
my "Disease Thrower" series.

["Disease Throwers," 2019–2020]

So they're headdresses,

they're shrines,

and they're healing instruments.

The materials of the sculptures

is an opportunity to go
back to Central America,

go back to Mexico,

and collect materials from these lands

that I crossed as a child.

(mysterious music)

My work is autobiographical,

and it's really important to understand
where I come from.

I was born in El Salvador, in San Salvador.

There was a revolution that
was starting when I was born.

My first few years,
it was kind of a happy time.

And then the war started to escalate.

(gunfire)

My family had to flee
El Salvador immediately.

And then I was kind of by myself.

When I was eight years old, they told me

I was going to be reunited with my family

in the United States.

But I'm going by land.

--Plant them anywhere randomly.

So my journey started in El Salvador,

and then I went to Honduras,
to Guatemala,

and all the way through Mexico.

This went on for almost
two and a half months.

"Tripa Chuca" is a game
that I grew up playing

with other friends and a piece of paper.

[Tripa Chuca:
A children's game in which players draw lines
between pairs of numbers to create abstract patterns.]

I used to play when I
was crossing the border,

when I was eight years old.

I used to play with the coyote.

I used to play with other kids.

So this has always been
a really important game.

And this is why I always mark
my spaces with this game.

I was very lucky

because the border was very
different in those times.

It was 1984, but even
those kids that I was with,

some of them didn't make it.

I still think about that.

It could have went so many different ways.

(mysterious music)

I was born December 12.

My birthday is very significant for me

because I was born on
the twelfth month and the twelfth day.

For the longest time,
I was looking at the calendar

and I was just like,

"Wow, I'm going to have a birthday"

"that's going to be all twelves in 2012."

And that's when I found out I had cancer.

Yeah.

(camera shutter)

(mysterious music)

In the middle of radiation treatments,

it was really an empowering time
for me

because that was the first time
I was exposed to a sound bath.

(mysterious music)

I was losing a lot of water
because of the radiation.

They said it's
really good to replenish

the very little water that you have,

so sound therapy may work.

(mysterious music)

For the first time,
I realized sound is medicine,

and if I overcome this experience,

I want to learn how to play,

to share that

with others that are going
through that struggle.

I started my own healing workshops

for undocumented immigrants.

When the pandemic hit,
I came across Juan Carlos Ruiz,

the pastor at the church in Bay Ridge.

He was feeding over three thousand people
per week.

So I decided to collaborate with him

and then just bring all my
healing work into the church.

(chiming)

[Woman, in Spanish]
--At some point, did you ask yourself
why this was happening to you?

[Maravilla, in Spanish]
--Yes, I think about that all the time.

--Having cancer was a really difficult period,
but it's also been a great teacher.

--Everyone has their own trauma.

--And that trauma is different for everyone.

--For me, the trauma of being separated
from my family when I was a kid,

--the trauma of the civil war,

--all of that manifested in an
energy in my stomach

that became cancer.

(gong lightly ringing)

["Planeta Abuelx"]

Today's a very special day,
because in a couple hours,

we're going to have
over three hundred people show up.

I put an invitation out
for anyone that has cancer

or anyone that is a cancer survivor

or anyone that has dealt
with a cancer loss.

At some point after overcoming cancer,

I did see art a lot different.

There was a point when I was like,

"Oh, do I continue being an artist?"

"Or do I just go into a jungle
with a 'curandero' for 10 years"

"and disappear and just learn."

I was very conflicted,
which direction to go in.

But I'm more interested
in creating my own path.

And my own path is using art and healing,

and combining the two.

(chiming)

(horn blowing)

(horn blowing)

(glass ringing)

From my experiences

healing is not always a pleasant thing,

where everything is
perfect and clean.

Healing can be very
difficult and challenging.

But having a community
that has gone through

similar experiences can
be really empowering.

(gong rings)

Making these elaborate "Disease Throwers,"

it's not just about telling
a story from my past,

but it's also about
how this healing ritual

can continue even in the future,

(fire crackling)

long after I'm gone.