Wrightwood 659 reflects on colonial legacies in the Americas through a new exhibition

Wrightwood 659 presents Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present, a new exhibition on view from April 17 – July 18, 2026. Bringing together more than 40 works by 36 contemporary artists from across Latin America, the art exhibition examines the enduring impact of colonialism and the ongoing realities of dispossession. Featuring photography, video art, installation, sculpture, painting and performance art produced between 1960 – 2025, the group show explores how the legacies of European colonisation continue to shape Indigenous, Afro-descendant and LGBTQ+ communities.

The contemporary art show is co-curated by Jonathan D. Katz, professor of Practice, History of Art and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and independent curator Eduardo Carrera. “Dispossession—the European colonial theft of land, culture and human beings in the Americas—is not merely a historical fact. It remains arguably the defining condition of much of Latin America,” Professor Katz argues in the official release.

“Dispossessions in the Americas examines how the dynamics of loss and resistance shape the structures of power inherited from colonialism. The artists in the exhibition reconfigure memory, assert belonging and create new ways of relating to history and territory by exploring the hybridisation of body, territory, spirituality and ecology. They become the mediators of physical and symbolic spaces that challenge colonial hierarchies,” Carrera notes in the official release shared by Wrightwood 659.

Organised around three themes—Territory, Body and Cultural Heritage—the exhibition showcases how contemporary artists reclaim narratives and resist colonial frameworks. “These works also present a new—and more accurate—relation to history, no longer told from the colonist’s perspective. They reveal hybrid connections among territory, gender and ecology, with artists shaping interactions between bodies and the environment to rethink memory, identity and relationships to the land,” the art gallery explains.

In addition to the main exhibition, a complementary video art programme will take place at the nearby Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church. The bi-weekly screenings will feature several artists, expanding on themes of colonialism, migration, ecological disruption and resistance.

Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present is the culmination of a multi-year, transnational initiative involving 12 museums across 10 Latin American countries, developed between 2021 and 2024. The project combined research, teaching and community engagement under the leadership of the University of Pennsylvania, with support from the Mellon Foundation.“The Wrightwood 659 exhibition is the final cumulative presentation of works from these exhibitions and includes bilingual text in English and Spanish,” the gallery shares.