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ArtWork Details
Secuelas by Manuel Navichoc is a striking original artwork from the Identity series, rendered in mixed media — ink and gold leaf on cotton paper. This powerful composition explores the lasting marks that heritage, tradition, and lived experience leave on the body and spirit.
The piece presents a dramatic close view of a figure's torso wrapped in deep burgundy and black striped textiles, unmistakably referencing the traditional woven garments of Guatemala's western highlands. Crossed knitting needles pierce through the fabric at sharp angles, creating tension between construction and destruction, while white thorn-like forms emerge from an ochre field behind the figure. At the center, a luminous gold leaf cross anchors the composition — a symbol of faith layered over indigenous identity.
Navichoc's meticulous ink linework is on full display in Secuelas. Every stripe of the textile is individually rendered through precise parallel lines, building a hypnotic rhythm across the surface. The contrast between the controlled linework of the garment and the raw, torn sections where white bursts through creates a visceral sense of rupture — the "secuelas" (aftermath, consequences) that the title promises.
About the Series
Secuelas belongs to Navichoc's Identity series, a body of work that examines what it means to carry the weight of cultural heritage in a contemporary context. Through recurring motifs — traditional textiles, hands, organic forms, and sacred symbols — the series asks how identity is worn, inherited, and sometimes torn apart. The gold leaf cross in this work speaks to the layered spiritual landscape of Guatemala, where indigenous cosmovision and colonial Catholicism coexist in complex tension.
Technique & Materials
This work is executed in mixed media: ink and gold leaf on cotton paper. The combination of impossibly fine ink linework with luminous gold leaf creates a dialogue between the handmade and the sacred, the labor-intensive and the transcendent. The cotton paper surface allows the ink to hold crisp, architectural lines while the gold leaf catches light differently depending on the viewing angle.
Explore more works by Manuel Navichoc or browse our full collection of Guatemalan contemporary art.
- Year: 2025
- Techniques: Mixed Media (Gold Leaf and Indian Ink) on Cotton Paper
- Size: 15cm x 17cm / 5.91" x 6.69"
15cm x 17cm / 5.91" x 6.69"
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About the Artist
Manuel Navichoc
Manuel was born on May 20, 1992, in San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala. He began his art studies at the National School of Fine Arts (ENAP) "Rafael Rodríguez Padilla," graduating as an Art Specialist in 2011. At the Higher School of Art of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC), he com... Learn more