Virginia Colwell (b. 1980, Nebraska, United States) has lived and worked in Mexico City, Mexico since 2011. Through her work, the artist examines the space between official and unofficial histories and the poetic ambiguities of truth and fiction in historical narratives. Often, she begins her artworks with stories found in her deceased father’s FBI archive, which contains materials that he collected during his career as an agent. Her drawings, sculptures, and videos reinvestigate various cases in the archive through site visits, interviews, archival research, and declassified documents.
Her work has been exhibited in several institutions, such as the Center for Contemporary Art in Lithuania, the Hirshhorn Museum, US; El Centro de Arte Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain; Centro Cultural Félix Varela during the 12th Havana Biennial. Colwell has received numerous awards, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Award, a Pollock Krasner Foundation Fellowship, and a Jumex Foundation Grant.
