María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Cuban Art Blooms in Saudi Arabian Desert

In the heart of the AlUla desert, among rock formations that have witnessed seven thousand years of human civilization, a work blooms that connects Afro-Cuban traditions with Saudi Arabia’s ancestral landscape. María Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most influential Cuban artists of her generation, presents Imole Red as part of Desert X AlUla 2026.

From Matanzas to the World

Campos-Pons was born in 1959 in La Vega, a small town in Matanzas province, where she grew up on a sugar plantation surrounded by traditions inherited from her Nigerian, Hispanic, and Chinese ancestors. Her work explores memory, identity, and the African diaspora through photography, video, performance, and monumental installations.

“I collect and tell stories of forgotten people in order to foster a dialogue to better understand and propose a poetic, compassionate reading of our time.” — María Magdalena Campos-Pons

In 2023, she received the MacArthur Fellowship —known as the “genius grant”— recognition that places her among the world’s most important artists. Her work is in the collections of MoMA, Tate Modern, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Getty Museum.

Imole Red: Light in the Desert

Imole means “light” in Yoruba, the language of her Nigerian ancestors brought to Cuba as slaves. The installation unfolds as a sculptural garden of giant stylized plants in intense red tones that dialogue with the Saudi desert sunsets.

The work explores how landscapes that are now desert were once seas, preserving the memory of water and the promise of connection. It’s a bridge between Cuban Santería and the mysticism of the ancient AlUla oasis, where caravans traded incense millennia ago.

Desert X AlUla 2026: The Art of the Land

The fourth edition of Desert X AlUla, under the theme Space Without Measure, brings together eleven international artists whose works transform the valley into an open-air museum. The exhibition, co-curated by Wejdan Reda and Zoé Whitley, is open through February 28, 2026.

Other installations include:

• The Living Pyramid by Agnes Denes, a living pyramid of desert plants
• The Water Song by Tarek Atoui, an underground sound composition
• Haraza Tree by Ibrahim El-Salahi, a sculptural forest inspired by acacia trees

A Legacy That Crosses Oceans

Campos-Pons represents the continuity of the New Cuban Art movement, which emerged in the 1980s as a response to cultural restrictions on the island. She emigrated to the United States in 1991 and is now a professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her presence at Desert X AlUla confirms that Cuban art knows no borders. From a sugar plantation in Matanzas to the canyons of Saudi Arabia, the stories of the African diaspora find new territories where they can bloom.

The Desert X AlUla 2026 exhibition remains open through February 28. More information at experiencealula.com.