Irvin Morazan

Guadalupe Maravilla (born 1976), formerly known as Irvin Morazan, is a transdisciplinary visual artist, choreographer, and healer.

Irvin Morazan was born in El Salvador in 1976.

Maravilla often played on the steps of the pyramids in El Salvador and spent his early childhood drawing and creating sculptures.

At the age of eight, Maravilla was part of the first wave of unaccompanied, undocumented children to arrive at the United States border in the 1980s as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War.

In 1984 (at the age of eight), Maravilla crossed the border into Texas alone escorted by a Coyote, becoming part of the first wave of unaccompanied minors, undocumented children to arrive at the United States border in the 1980s as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War.

Maravilla and his family later arrived in New York City where he started attending art school and exploring different aspects of New York culture, like hip-hop.

He earned his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2003.

With regards to his first name, his mother, who died with cancer in 2007, told him how she initially wanted to name him Guadalupe, since he was born on the same day as the Virgin of Guadalupe.

However, she didn't because his father wanted him to have a more masculine name.

As an acknowledgement of his own migratory past, Maravilla grounds his practice in the historical and contemporary contexts of immigrant culture, particularly those belonging to Latinx communities.

Maravilla was the first in his family to go to college.

In 2011, Maravilla performed Crossing Performance at the Mexico-United States border.

Maravilla wore a tall, spiky headdress fusing Mayan and futuristic imagery while swimming across the Rio Grande.

The headdress contained a large solar reflector that reflected the sun's light, drawing the attention of Border Patrol agents.

To Maravilla's work is largely inspired by his childhood experience of emigrating to the United States.

He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from Hunter College in New York in 2013.

Combining pre-colonial Central American ancestry, personal mythology, and collaborative performative acts, Maravilla’s performances, objects, and drawings trace the history of his own displacement and that of others.

Culling the entangled fictional and autobiographical genealogies of border crossing accounts, Maravilla nurtures collective narratives of trauma into celebrations of perseverance and humanity.

Across all media, Maravilla explores how the systemic abuse of immigrants physically manifests in the body, reflecting on his own battle with cancer, which began in his gut.

Maravilla’s large-scale sculptures, titled Disease Throwers, function as headdresses, instruments, and shrines through the incorporation of materials collected from sites across Central America, anatomical models, and sonic instruments such as conch shells and gongs.

Disease Throwers ultimately serve as symbols of renewal, generating therapeutic, vibrational sound.

Maravilla's practice combines indigenous traditions with urban culture.

He often makes sculptural headdresses that mimic pre-Columbian dress, which serve as costumes in his performances.

In 2016, Maravilla became a U.S. citizen and adopted the name Guadalupe Maravilla in solidarity with his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as his last name.

As an acknowledgment to his past, Maravilla grounds his practice in the historical and contemporary contexts belonging to undocumented communities and the cancer community.

Maravilla's studio is located in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2016, Maravilla became a U.S. citizen and adopted the name Guadalupe Maravilla in solidarity with his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as his last name.

He was undocumented until he became a US citizen at 27 years old.

Maravilla's father adopted the last name of Maravilla following a religious conversion to Jehova's Witness.

The religious group played an essential part in helping his father recover from alcoholism and reemerge in the artist's life 20 years after disappearing.

This transformation was a source of inspiration for the artist to reinvent his identity.

In 2016, Irvin Morazan changed his name to Guadalupe Maravilla as a gesture of solidarity with his undocumented father—who uses Maravilla as his last name in his fake identity.

The El Coyote—or border-crossing agent—is featured in his overall work.

The sculptural work Border Crossing Headdress is Maravilla's interpretation of the coyote, made using soil from the American-Mexican border region.

Maravilla has staged multiple large-scale performances incorporating hip-hop, theater, sculpture, sound, video, and photography.

His performance ''BOOM!

BOOM!

WHAMMM!

SWOOSH!''(2017) consisted of him directing a feminist motorcycle gang inside the Texas State Capitol parking garage.

Maravilla conducted over thirty immigrant performers.