Cecilia Paredes Peruvian, b. 1950

Cecilia Paredes' Celestial series draws on a vast array of references, including astrological drawings, Mesoamerican codices, and European cartography, among others. Each object is printed on paper or linen. Some of the artwork printed on linen is embroidered and adorned with beads and crystals, following Paredes on a poetic journey through various mythic realms of time and space. Reminiscent of early European documents of the “new” world, which variously characterized the pre-colonial landscape as magical, exotic, and dangerous, Paredes subverts this initial reference in works that overcome static boundaries of here and there, widening her aperture to a cosmic scale that reminds viewers, in the artist’s words, of “how small we are in the universe.”