Huaco Retrato – Undiscovered

In her internationally acclaimed novel Huaco Retrato, Peruvian author Gabriela Wiener recognizes herself in the huaco retratos—pre-Columbian portrait vessels housed in a Paris museum that were taken to France by her great-great-grandfather. With wit and irony, the novel traces her family history while exploring questions of migrant identity, racism, colonial legacy, and sexuality. It intertwines the traumatic colonial past of an entire continent with the author’s personal present. The current exhibition likewise examines the contemporary relevance of colonial-era collections in Peru. Works by artists such as Peruvian artist Enzo Miguel Matute engage with the pre-Columbian huaco retratos, combining them with photographic portraits and reinterpreting them from a contemporary perspective.