Santa Fe Art Institute

Ana González Barragán

Ana González Barragán (b. Mexico City, 1989) is a conceptual artist, sculptor, and researcher focused on histories—cultural, geological, and political—of different stones and minerals. Ana’s work is informed by a non-static dialogue connecting the nuances of post-industrial capitalism and patriarchy with dominant narratives that commodify the body and natural resources through various processes of extraction.

Working with obsidian, marble, and other materials with long aesthetic traditions, Gonzalez creates sculptural objects and installations, amplifying the metaphoric potential of geologic bodies—documenting the extractive (and often violent and exploitative) processes and their impacts, offering evocative provocations to undertake reflection processes about the culture/nature divide across different regions and historical moments. This extensive research and documentation is conducted on-site, in locations that include Sierra de las Navajas, Mexico, and Marble, Colorado, through relationships built with both mine workers and managers as well as impacted local communities.