María Magdalena Campos-Pons

María Magdalena Campos Pons (born in Matanzas, 22 July 1959) is a contemporary Cuban artist. Through video, film, photography, installation, and performance, her autobiographical works explore themes of history, memory, gender, and religion and their intersections with identity. Her early works during the 1980s examined issues related to sexuality, the place of women in society, and the representation of women in art history. Her arrival in the United States in the 1990s led her to rethink the historical, geographical, and social significance of Cuba, which resulted in the incorporation of themes related to the transatlantic slave trade, Cuban indigo and sugar plantations, Catholic and Santeria religious practices, and revolutionary uprisings. She studied for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Studio Review at Concordia University, Montreal NSCAD, Halifax, Canada. From 1986 to 1989, she worked as a lecturer in painting and aesthetics at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana. In 1992, she was curator of the Displacement Project at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1995-1996, she was a visiting professor in 3D Installation at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She currently works as a professor in the Arts Department at Vanderlit University, where she leads the areas of Drawing and Performance.