MASP presents La Chola Poblete: Pop andino, first solo exhibition of the artist La Chola Poblete (Guaymallén, Argentina, 1989) in Brazil. The show brings together works that draw on Pop Art and reinterpret it in a Latin American context, articulating discussions on gender, sexuality, Chola identities, and the effects of colonialism.

Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, MASP, and Leandro Muniz, assistant curator, MASP, the exhibition “reflects on colonial legacies in Latin America, drawing on the artist’s biography to discuss indigenous, popular, and hybrid presences in Argentina,” states Muniz.

Chola is a term marked by its recurring use as a racial slur against women of indigenous descent in Andean countries, such as Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. By incorporating it into her name and discussing it in her work, La Chola Poblete dismantles stigmas and stereotypes by reappropriating and rearticulating them. In the watercolor series Vírgenes cholas [Chola Virgins] (2022—in progress), the artist combines Andean and Catholic deities, references to music and fashion, political protest slogans, and autobiographical details. Together, these elements take on a collective dimension by highlighting the conflicts and potentialities experienced by artists coming from historically marginalized groups.

In the posters PAP ART / Pop Andino [PAP ART / Andean Pop] (2023), displayed on one of the walls that open the exhibition, La Chola Poblete builds the persona of a singer on tour, in dialogue with pop culture and the logic of music promotion. Among her references is the cover of Lady Gaga’s album ARTPOP. The narrative of the Chola as a figure to be admired also runs through the Manifesto Pop Andino [Andean Pop Manifesto] (2023)—a sound piece that gives the exhibition its title—available on the main audio platforms and which begins with the phrase: “My gender is artist.” By mobilizing the manifesto format, Poblete repositions established references from art history, reconfiguring them based on her own experience.

In Il Martirio di Chola [Chola’s Martyrdom], a photo performance that draws on Baroque portrait codes, such as the three-quarter pose and dark background, La Chola Poblete incorporates signs of the Chola identity, such as the aguayo bag, made of this traditional Andean fabric, and braids, equating the sufferings of the Cholas with those of Christ. The Italian title also refers to the classical tradition of European painting, placing the artist within the canon of Western art history. By articulating references to the Baroque and Pop, two periods marked by the massive circulation of images, the artist critically appropriates these legacies to create tension between canonical and marginalized narratives.

La Chola Poblete: Pop andino is part of MASP’s annual program dedicated to Latin-American Histories. The year-long program includes exhibitions by Sandra Gamarra Heshiki, Claudia Alarcón & Silät, Santiago Yahuarcani, Colectivo Acciones de Arte, Damián Ortega, Sol Calero, Carolina Caycedo, Pablo Delano, Rosa Elena Curruchich, Manuel Herreros and Mateo Manaure, Jesús Soto, in addition to the major collective show Latin-American Histories, and the Video Room pieces by Clara Ianni, Claudia Martínez Garay, Edgar Calel, Oscar Muñoz, and Regina José Galindo. 

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La Chola Poblete: Pop andino 
Curatorship: Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, MASP, and Leandro Muniz, assistant curator, MASP