María Berrío – The Land of the Sun

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Victoria Miro is delighted to present The Land of the Sun, an exhibition in Venice by Brooklyn-based artist María Berrío.

Celebrated for works that draw on aspects of mythology and folklore to create compelling contemporary narratives, María Berrío has often focused on agency and survival, particularly that of women and children in the face of overwhelming ecological, economic or geo-political forces. In this new body of work, created especially for her exhibition in Venice, Berrío conjures an apocalyptic scenario, against which the efforts of her central character, in search of water, refuge, or simply the familiar aspects of her former life, become Sisyphean as she journeys through a world of heat and dust on the brink of extinction.

‘When the world ended, the woman fled the fallen cities in search of refuge… She walked great, silent distances… She would laugh and curse at the sun just to hear laughing and cursing, knowing full well that both would soon be extinguished. It was the inevitable that she was facing. Whether the geometries were open or closed, whether the world ended with a bang or a whimper, it ended all the same.’ – María Berrío

About the artist

María Berrío grew up in Colombia and is based in Brooklyn. Her work has been shown as part of significant exhibitions at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Nasher Museum of Art, USA; Prospect.4 Triennial, New Orleans; and the Museo del Barrio, New York. The artist’s first survey show María Berrío: Esperando mientras la noche florece (Waiting for the Night to Bloom) was on view at The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach from January until May 2021. Her work is currently featured in Women Painting Women, on view at The Modern, Fort Worth, 15 May–25 September 2022. Also this year, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami is displaying recent acquisitions for the first time, including Berrío’s 2020 sculpture The Petition, until 30 October 2022. Additionally, the artist’s work will be included in a major group exhibition opening in September 2022 at The DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, titled A Natural Turn.

Berrío’s work is in permanent collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, USA; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, USA; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, USA and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA, among others.

A solo exhibition of new and existing works will take place at ICA Boston, 16 February–6 August 2023.