Gala Porras Kim

Life

Gala Porras-Kim was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and moved to Los Angeles while she was in high school. Porras-Kim attended University of California, Los Angeles where she received a BA in art and Latin American studies and an MA in Latin American studies. She received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, in Los Angeles.

Work

Porras-Kim's art often includes archaeology. She has studied the languages and writing systems of indigenous cultures and draws on this research for inspiration. Much of the artists work has focused on Zapotec culture, its tonal language, and the variations of dialects contained within Oaxaca. This has included an examination of whistling as means of carrying hidden transcripts and as a strategy of dissent.

Exhibitions

Her solo exhibitions include For Prospective Rock/Artifact Projection (2015) and The Mute Object and Ancient Stories of Today (2013), both at Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles. Porras-Kim’s work was featured in the exhibition Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only at the Hammer Museum, and has been included in exhibitions at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (2016); Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City (2014); Bindery Projects, Minneapolis (2014); and 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica (2012).

Awards

She received a Creative Capital Award (2015) and a California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2013).