The Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil presents “Fuego amigo“, Pia Camil’s first survey exhibition at a Mexican institution. The exhibition presents works from 2001 to the present, spanning various media from drawing and sculpture to installation and performance.

Fuego amigo proposes a circular revision without a beginning. The main structure is held together by the remains of her studio’s fire emulating the alchemic practice of lead transforming into gold. Prior to installation, the museum gallery was being renovated and the ‘bare’ plywood walls appeared behind the white walls. It was then decided to stop the remodeling and reveal what lies beneath, exposing the process of transformation. The work therefore is showcased on bare walls and self-standing modules made from repurposed and burnt wood.

Pia Camil’s work emerges from engaging in forms of commerce that operate outside the confines of capitalism. This process is nourished by the observation of the social and economic failure of the neo-colonial model, instrumentalized by trade agreements and the unrestrained forces of the free market. The artist draws inspiration from the heterogeneous peri-capitalist models that surface from necessity and precariousness. She locates and exposes them, without romanticism, to highlight the hardships and to propose alternate possibilities that communities have found. In this way, she practices a form of urban anthropology.

A few years ago, Camil and her family relocated from Mexico City to a semi-rural community in Mexico – seeking another way of life, one that diverged from the discourses, rules and productivity-focused schedules imposed by capitalism in every major city.

– Mauricio Marcin, Curator