‘Smoke’: Manuel Chavajay

For Smoke at Frieze London, Manuel Chavajay is showing a group of new ceramic pots and engine-oil paintings. Exploring his Indigenous heritage, Chavajay’s works often combine traditional practices with post-industrial materials, advocating for the contemporary environmental challenges faced by our shared world. The paintings and jars shown here reflect the contamination of the ancestral wisdom and cultural memory of the Tz’utujil Maya people, affected by waves of mass tourism and modern pollution.

About Manuel Chavajay

The work of Manuel Chavajay (b. 1982, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala) is informed by the aftermath of armed conflict, addressing Indigenous identity as well as socio-economic and environmental concerns. His pieces express a powerful will for change, specifically a collective responsibility to preserve the sacred landscapes and traditions of the Tz’utujil Maya people.

Manuel Chavajay is showing with Pedro Cera at Frieze London 2024.

Further Information

Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2024, The Regent’s Park, 9 – 13 October 2024.

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^{Main Image: Manuel Chavajay, Untitled (hay días en que las montañas y los volcanes se acercan y se alejan), 2023. Burned oil from marine and land engines, watercolour, acrylic and embroidery on cotton paper
, 1.8 × 2.3 m (framed diptych). Courtesy of the the artist and Pedro Cera}