MinerAlert
MinerAlert
This large-scale, site-specific installation was created by Juárez-born and raised interdisciplinary artist Olga Guerra. Guerra’s recent practice involves extensive collection processes of organic materials in the regional desert landscape, which she transforms into her primary medium. In this work, she utilizes thorns from the Huizache (Sweet acacia), a drought-tolerant, fragrant semi-evergreen shrub native to the Southwestern United States.
By working exclusively with thorns, Guerra amplifies the significance of this iconic desert element. Through this minimal yet powerful material, she proposes a mimetic expression of the sun—its blinding luminosity, its duality of protection and harm, and its capacity to wound and pierce. The pale, smooth thorns emerge against a red background, resembling tiny bone splinters bleached and corroded by the sun. The work evokes the image of a buried body, where blood and calcium return to the clay and caliche of the land.
Durante la recepción de apertura de su instalación en el Rubin Center, la artista juarense Olga Guerra participó en una charla transmitida en vivo, donde abordó su práctica artística, los temas que atraviesan su obra y su relación con la región fronteriza. Vea la grabación completa a continuación.
Es siembra el sepulcro was commissioned by the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts as part of Olga Guerra’s solo exhibition at Azul Arena in Ciudad Juárez:
En su arder, no encuentra fatiga el sol (In its burning, the sun does not weary) Curated by Diego García
Azul Arena, Bolivia 246, Colonia Partido Romero, Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua
On view through August 30, 2025