Daniela Ortiz (b. 1985, Peru) creates visual narratives that question hegemonic power structures and the capitalist system, and critically examine concepts of nationality, social class and categorizations based on racialization. Ortiz, who created her first theatre piece with the Neumarkt ensemble in Zurich in 2023, uses her work to explore racism as well as historical and present-day forms of colonial exploitation. To distance herself formally from a Eurocentric aesthetic of conceptual art, she often uses craft techniques and works with ceramic, embroidery and, for ReCollect!, hand tufting. In her new project for the Kunsthaus Zürich, Ortiz reflects on the centuries-old and conflict-laden history of land ownership and exploitation. With the help of Hans Sebald Beham’s prints from the Kunsthaus Collection, she blends past and present and draws parallels between the German Peasants’ War, the history of revolutionary land reforms in the Global South, and current troubles in European agriculture.

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Images: Daniela Ortiz, Installation view «ReCollect!», Kunsthaus Zürich, 2023, Photo: Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich