Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale 2026

Karla García creates ceramic installations inspired by the vegetation and cultural memory of the Chihuahuan Desert, which stretches across the border between Mexico and the United States. The desert landscape and ecology of her childhood have long been an important foundation for her work.

Of Life and Myth connects García’s own life with the story of Malīnalxōchitl, a goddess from Aztec mythology. Malīnalxōchitl was abandoned during a migration but remained in the desert, retaining her knowledge and power. Through this story, García draws attention to the resilience and capacity for care found among women, migrants, and others pushed to the margins.

Follow the cacti and grasses rising from the fine sand. García forms each one by hand, leaving traces of how the clay was built up and pressed into shape across their surfaces. She also mixes fragments of unfired cactus sculptures from a previous installation into the glaze, allowing traces of the earlier work to continue within the new pieces.

Like cacti and grasses that take root and survive in the harsh desert, these works hold memory, endurance, and vitality. For García, clay is not simply a material, but a medium in which memory and time accumulate and traces of the past can continue as new life.