Johanna Unzueta

Santiago de Chile,Chile1974

Johanna Unzueta (Chile, 1974) lives and works in New York and Berlin. She received her BFA from Universidad Católica de Chile. Through sculptures and installations made of felt, fabric, wood, her work questions labor and its technological, historic and social impacts on the human condition. In each work, she combines elements of craft production and industrialization, considering the different ways in which materials and structures can be manipulated. Unzueta also works in drawing, photography, video, serigraphy, and, since 2009, has held a practice in editorial design and production of artist publications, alongside Felipe Mujica. 

Her solo and two-person shows include Herbaria, Proyectos Ultravioleta at St Cyprian’s Church, London; Tools for Life, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2020); From My Head to My Toes, to My Teeth to My Nose, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at MSU, East Lansing, Michigan (2019); Of the Color of the Forest, at the Bottom of the Sea, Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City (2019); Nictinastia, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (2017); Nodes, encounter… out of the fields, Jewett Art Gallery, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts (2017); El jardín de Psyche, Galería Gabriela Mistral, Santiago (2016); Arquitectura y amistad (with Felipe Mujica), Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City (2013); and Iron Folklore, Queens Museum of Art, New York (2009). Her work has also been exhibited in group shows including Drawing in the Continuous Present, The Drawing Center, NY (2022); We Don’t Need Another Hero, X Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2018); The Daily Grind, London Museum, London Ontario (2016); Everyday Angels, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge (2012); The S-Files, Museo del Barrio, New York (2011); Epílogos, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara (2010); and Contaminaciones Contemporáneas, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (2010); and is currently participating in The Sky’s the Limit, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.

Her work is in the permanent collections of Tate, UK; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France; +Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preuẞischer Kulturbesitz (Kupferstichkabinett), Berlin, Germany; Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI), Santiago, Chile; Galería Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile; The Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami, FL; MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI; Queens Museum, New York, NY; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. 

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