María Magdalena Campos-Pons: “Imole Red”
Desert X 2026
AlUla, Saudi Arabia
"Initially I started reading about the history of AlUla to familiarize myself with the social and horticultural topography, from afar. However, arriving here was a different story. This is a place where I feel full of mystical energy; it is a profound, spiritual place. This is a cathedral of the air. Imole Red in the North Canyon of Desert X AlUla 2026 is a gesture to reconnect with nature, an invitation to have a conversation with the colors and textures surrounding us. This canyon is a garden. The contours of the rock change chromatically in the sun, from yellow, ochre, red, to purple and blue. I am trying to synthesize color, light and energy into a blossoming, alchemical garden.
‘Imole’ references the word in Yoruba language that means light. The sunset here is extraordinary. I work within what I call the color code of the Yoruba pantheon, and have focused on yellow and gold, the hues associated with sunset reflecting on the water. These are associated with Oshun, deity of the river that bears her name, symbolic of spiritual vitality and life’s flow. Placing the sculpture in a flood plain honors the valley’s past, a place where our human scale demands humility.
I make work about my heritage but always attuned to the interrelation of other bodies in specific geographies. How do we each respond to being in a new place? Can I insert a new provocation, rooted in radical love, in a context with its own particular lineage. Radical Love is about human proximity, finding what brings us together in a shared destiny on this planet.
One answer to these questions is a performance offering. As part of my collaboration as one half of KaMag (with musician and composer Kamaal Malak), we will consider how these elements can converge: the magnitude, the elegance, the mystery transformed into sound and improvised choreography. It is astonishing how simple movements, words uttered with love for all, can speak to the extraordinary complexity that exists here in AlUla.
From setting foot in this landscape, every corner reminds me of the work of my fellow Cuban artist, the late Ana Mendieta. I believe this place is an incredible, beautiful gift from nature back to us. I can only make parallel notations in response."
— María Magdalena Campos-Pons
María Magdalena Campos-Pons at Desert X:
January 16 – February 28, 2026
