Gathering Roots and Holding Up the Sky

Artist Koyoltzintli (Ecuadorian American,, b. 1983)

Date2019

MediumLarge format paper negative composite

DimensionsImage: 37 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (95.9 x 59.7 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2024:10

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About the ArtistKoyoltzintli (formerly known as Karen Miranda Rivadeneira) is an artist with roots in the Manta peoples of the Ecuadorian coast and currently based in New York. Her series MEDIA (2017-19), reflects on the traditions and myths of the land by evoking the myth of the Sky Woman, who is said to have fallen to earth as the planet was created. In her performative photographs, Koyoltzintli places her own body in the landscape to envision how Sky Woman might reclaim the land and fight the erasure of Indigenous traditions.
This piece is featured in the Aperture traveling exhibition, Native America: In Translation, that was recently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. The artist has received awards and fellowships from within the US, Japan, Switzerland, France, Brazil, and more; as well as being collected in museums in the US, Ecuador, Italy, and France.