María Magdalena Campos-Pons, History of a People who were not Heroes: A Town Portrait (detail), 1994. Ceramic, metal, glass, plywood, fiberboard, grout, gelatin silver print transfers, polyurethane resin, silicone, and three-channel video with sound composition by Neil Leonard. Museum purchase with funds donated by members of the 2017–2018 Contemporary Art Visiting Committee in honor of Jen Mergel, Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art (2010 - 2017) and the Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, Linde Purchase Fund for Contemporary Art, and Michael D. Wolk Fund for New Media. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons, History of a People who were not Heroes: A Town Portrait (detail), 1994. Ceramic, metal, glass, plywood, fiberboard, grout, gelatin silver print transfers, polyurethane resin, silicone, and three-channel video with sound composition by Neil Leonard. Museum purchase with funds donated by members of the 2017–2018 Contemporary Art Visiting Committee in honor of Jen Mergel, Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art (2010 - 2017) and the Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, Linde Purchase Fund for Contemporary Art, and Michael D. Wolk Fund for New Media. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons: A Portrait
1:00 pm–2:30 pm
Tickets (Member / Nonmember)
In-Person $28 / $35
Livestream $16 / $20
In vivid works across photography, watercolor, installation, and performance, María Magdalena Campos-Pons tackles themes of migration, memory, spiritual connectedness, and motherhood. She entwines interconnected histories of labor with her family story, exploring the global impact of enslavement and indenture of West African and Chinese people in Cuba. In this lecture, get a sweeping introduction to Campos-Pons’s four-decade career, with a special focus on her impact on the arts communities in the Boston region, where she lived for nearly 30 years.
Carmen Hermo, Lorraine and Alan Bressler Curator of Contemporary Art, Department of Contemporary Art
Course Packages
Purchase a ticket package for the full four-session “Making and Memory: María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Martin Puryear” course. Please note that this option is not available after the date of the first session.
Assistive listening system
Wheelchair accessible
Ticket Information
To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975 ($6 processing fee applies); to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.
Livestream Tickets
The livestream ticket gives access to a live feed of the event that can be watched remotely. You must be logged in to the account used to purchase the ticket in order to access the livestream on the Video Content page. Please log in at least 5 minutes before the start of the event to test your connection.
Livestream ticket holders must watch the event live; there is no recording of the event available for viewing at a later time.
Bag Checks
All bags are subject to inspection by Museum staff. Backpacks, large bags, all liquids including hand sanitizer and sunscreen, and outside food or drink are not permitted. Exceptions are made for medical or religious needs. All bags are strongly discouraged, and any bags larger than 11” x 15” must be checked in the Coat Room upon entry. Read our full bag check policy.