Maria A. Guzmán Capron: Celaje

Capron’s shaped wall-works are rooted in her background as an immigrant. Born in Milan, Italy to Colombian and Peruvian parents and later relocating to Texas as a teenager, Capron recognizes the challenges of toggling between various cultures and geographies. Her practice explores how clothing is used as a marker of class, gender, and cultural identity.

Celaje, a Spanish word for a wispy, polychromatic cloudscape, speaks to how Capron thinks of identity as something that constantly shifts and evolves. The artist primarily uses discarded fabric to evoke the body, constructing figures that are simultaneously extensions of herself and collective portraits of those who often influence identity formation, such as lovers, caretakers, and friends.

By contrasting common fibers like cotton with more luxurious fabrics like silk, the artist addresses material hierarchies in art and fashion to parallel the power dynamics that exist within class and gender. She is invested in the friction of mistranslations—of failing to “dress the part” or having one’s pride in self-expression overcast by exoticization.