Ruffin Gallery at the University of Virginia is pleased to invite you to present Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales, guest curated by Erika Hirugami, MA. MAAB. MPhil. In addition to the exhibition, several events, including an opening reception and a symposium featuring numerous artist-scholars will take place. The IHGC is pleased to join others in supporting this exhibition, in which IHGC Fellow, Federico Cuatlacuatl, will participate.
Important Dates and Activities:
Exhibition dates: August 29-October 10, 2025
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
179 Culbreth Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903
“Ayuujk (Mixe), Nahua, Maya-Ch’ol, Ñuu Savi (Mixtec), Otomí, Maya-Kaqchikel, P’urhépecha, Diidxazà, Maya-Tsotsil, Zapotec, and Sarhua, are but a few of the ancestral lineages that collide in Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales. This project brings together the knowledge and aesthetic achievements of individuals whose ancestral lineage predates Spanish colonialism and who center millennia of inherited epistemologies within their contemporary practices. Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales aesthetically departs from a critical interrogation of nation and citizenship as concrete hope to create sovereign solidarities. At the height of the Spanish Empire, it colonized over thirty-five modern nations. Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales unites them to blur the boundaries of settler colonialism by bringing together artists and scholars from the contemporary nations of México, United States, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Philippines, Chile, Jamaica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, and many others in an effort to shift toward a new paradigm of interdisciplinary scholarship that transcends borders, linguistics, fields of study, geographical segregation, and extractive colonial epistemologies, methodologies and knowledge making approaches.”
—Erika Hirugami, Curator
Exhibiting Artists: Marilyn Boror Bor, Edgar Calel, Andrea Chung, Darwin Cruz, Federico Cuatlacuatl, Elvira Espejo Ayca, Sandra Gamarra Heshiki, Scherezade GarcÍa, Giovanni Fabián Guerrero, Porfirio Gutiérrez, Maruch Méndez, Isabel Rojas Williams, Venuca Evanán Vivanco, Salvador Xharicata
Soft Opening Reception: Friday, August 29, 5-7pm
Join us in Ruffin Hall for light refreshments to celebrate the exhibition opening
Symposium: Thursday, October 9, 9am-3:30pm
Join us at the Harrison/Small Auditorium for a series of panel discussions and screenings by distinguished visiting artists, scholars, and UVA faculty.
Closing Party: Friday, October 10, 5pm-10pm
Party with us! DJ, dancing, food and drinks will be enjoyed by all. Guest curator, scholars and exhibiting artists will be in attendance and there will be a special performance by Marilyn Boror Bor.
Learn more about Fuego Eterno: Soberanías Visuales and Global Spanish here.
This exhibition is supported by UVA Arts & Science’s Global Spanish, the UVA Department of Art’s Ruffin Distinguished Artist-in-Residence program, and Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures (IHGC).