Featuring a dazzling array of prints, drawings, costumes, sculpture, video, and a performance, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa’s Lugar de Consuelo (Place of Solace) (2020) addresses the political and personal histories of Guatemala’s long civil war (1960–96). Building on Ramírez-Figueroa’s research on Latin American theater, Lugar de Consuelo is inspired by the history of the revolutionary play El Corazón del espantapájaros (Heart of the Scarecrow), written by the playwright Hugo Carrillo in 1962. During the civil war, Guatemala’s government violently repressed a student production of the play. Years later, Ramírez-Figueroa learned about this from his uncle, who participated in that production as an actor. The artist’s research, drawn mostly from oral accounts, resulted in etchings, drawings, and costumes that reimagine the events surrounding its censorship.
An installation of Ramírez-Figueroa’s costumes and props, as well as watercolor sketches and a film of a prior performance, staged at the Universidad Popular de Guatemala, where the censored production took place, will be on view in the Kravis Studio. In June 2026, the exhibition will culminate in the first New York performances of Lugar de Consuelo. Based on the five characters from Carillo’s work—an oligarch, a president, a soldier, a priest, and a scarecrow—the new script, written in collaboration with poet Wingston González, imagines a new, mythical narrative.
Performances will take place June 16–28, 2026; tickets for individual performances are now available. Performances will be presented in either English or Spanish, as indicated in the schedule below.
Performance schedule
Tue, Jun 16, 8:00 p.m. (Spanish)
Wed, Jun 17, 8:00 p.m. (Spanish)
Thu, Jun 18, 8:00 p.m. (Spanish)
Thu, Jun 25, 8:00 p.m. (English)
Sat, Jun 27, 8:00 p.m. (English)
Sun, Jun 28, 8:00 p.m. (English)
Organized by Inés Katzenstein, Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, Julia Detchon, former Curatorial Associate, Latin American Art, and Chloë Courtney, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints. Produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Director, with Aminah Ibrahim, Assistant Performance Coordinator, Performance and Live Art.
