Kelly Tapia-Chuning:
Speaking Ancestors / [Re]Awakening Spirit
Opening Reception with the Artist: February 21st, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: February 21 - March 28, 2026
Kelly Tapia-Chuning (b. 1997, California) is a mixed Xicana artist with Indígena ancestry, currently based in Miami, FL. Recognized for her textile- and research-based practice, Tapia-Chuning's work critically examines 'mestizaje'—the blending of cultures—and histories of assimilation. Through deconstructing and reconfiguring the iconic Mexican blanket, the serape, her work seeks to heal ancestral trauma and reconnect with long-forgotten familial histories and cultural roots.
Tapia-Chuning received an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she was awarded a Gilbert Fellowship. In 2025, her work was selected for the 18th International Triennial of Textile in Łódź (PL). Other honors include CAA's 2023 Professional Development Fellow in Visual Arts Award and the 2024 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center. Tapia-Chuning's work has been included in exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, UT; The Shepherd, MI; The Bunker Artspace, FL; Kimball Art Center, UT; Liliana Bloch Gallery, TX; Cranbrook Art Museum, MI; Onna House, NY & FL; among others. She has held residencies at Ucross (WY) and Stove Works (TN). Her work has been featured in Artnet News, Southwest Contemporary, Surface, and Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, among others.
Tapia-Chuning's work is held in numerous private and public collections across the US, including the Cranbrook Art Museum, MI; Tang Teaching Museum & Art Gallery, NY; The Bunker Artspace, FL; Onna House, NY & FL; the State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, the Southern Utah Museum of Art, and the Salt Lake County Visual Art Collection.
The Liliana Bloch Gallery is proud to present Speaking Ancestors / [Re]Awakening Spirit, a new exhibition by Kelly Tapia-Chuning that invites viewers to reflect on ancestral knowledge, memory, and stewardship that carry across the generations.
Rooted in the Indigenous principle of the Seven Generations, which is credited to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois Confederacy) but echoes across Indigenous cultures throughout the Americas, the principle highlights how our current actions are shaped by our ancestors, and in turn, we shape the generations yet to come.
Tapia-Chuning translates these principles into seven offerings, consisting of serapes that the artist deconstructed and reconfigured, each one representing a generation of ancestors. Tapia-Chuning uses symbolic materials as anchors across time that mark cycles of renewal, migration, grounding, protection, and guidance, resisting the linear constructs of time.
Kelly Tapia-Chuning. When the stars move, time shifts, & we are called Home / Grandmother Star, 2025. Dismantled serape (Mexican blanket), thoughts of the artist's grandmother, copper nails, interfacing. 72 x 48.5 inches.