New Monograph Showcases María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s Innovative Oeuvre

María Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959) makes powerful work that holds and beholds the stories of historically silenced peoples and urges societal change.

Her journey as an artist, teacher, and activist has taken her from Cuba through the United States, and her autobiographical compositions honor her Nigerian and Chinese ancestors while also facing the future. With an artistic practice that crosses boundaries, intertwines media—from photography to sculpture, film to performance—and references traditions and beliefs ranging from feminism to Santería, Campos-Pons’s work is deeply layered and complex.

María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold (J. Paul Getty Museum/Brooklyn Museum, $45) is the first critical look at the artist’s oeuvre in nearly two decades, and surveys the concerns, materials, and places invoked throughout her 40-year career. Thoughtful essays explore her vibrant, arresting artwork, which confronts issues of agency and the construction of race and belonging and challenges us to reckon with these issues in our own lives.

This volume accompanies an exhibition on view at the Brooklyn Museum from September 15, 2023, to January 14, 2024; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University from February 15 to June 9, 2024; the Frist Art Museum from September 27, 2024, to January 5, 2025; and the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from February 11 to May 4, 2025.