Edgard Calel was born in Chi Xot (San Juan Comalapa), Guatemala. Calel’s practice draws deeply from his Indigenous Mayan Kaqchikel heritage, integrating traditional ceremonies and ancestral collective memory into installations, performances, and participatory art. Calel creates dialogues between different cultural systems, using symbolic materials such as corn, candles, stones, fruits, and family objects to address spirituality, cultural identity, and the ongoing effects of colonisation, as well as the systemic racism and exclusion that the indigenous people of Guatemala endure daily.

Edgar Calel is an artist participating in the 3rd Helsinki Biennial; his works will be installed in Helsinki Art Museum HAM from 08.06.2025 to 21.09.2025

Edgar Calel (Chi Xot – San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala, 1987) is an artist who works with diverse media to explore the Indigenous experience from the worldview and practices of the Kaqchikel Maya people, in dialogue with the structures of exclusion and racism in Guatemala. He currently has three solo exhibitions: Ru Raxal qa Rayb’äl at La Nueva Fábrica (Guatemala), Kutenten – kutenten – kutenten at Mendes Wood DM (New York), and Ni Musmut at Bergen Kunsthall (Norway). In 2023, he held his first institutional exhibition, B’alab’äj, at SculptureCenter (New York), and in 2021, his first solo exhibition at Proyectos Ultravioleta (Guatemala). He has participated in prominent group exhibitions, including the 35th São Paulo Biennial (2023), the 12th Liverpool Biennial (2023), the 14th Gwangju Biennial (2023), the 58th Carnegie International (2022), and the 11th Berlin Biennial (2020), among many others. His work is included in collections such as the Tate (UK), the Museo Reina Sofía (Spain), the Hammer Museum (USA), the National Gallery of Canada, and the Rijkscollectie (Netherlands). He has participated in residencies at Tropical Papers, Residência Rua do Sol (Portugal), and Lastro Research Platform (Brazil).