Stop & Chat: María Berrío: Songlines

María Berrío: Songlines is currently on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and on Tuesday, October 27, the museum is hosting a Stop & Chat session around it. It's an informal drop-in—you spend a short time with a Mia guide unraveling the narratives hidden inside the work. If you've been walking past the exhibition without stopping, this is a good way to actually get into it.

Berrío is a Colombian artist, born in 1982 and active in the United States, and her process is something you can see working right in front of you. She builds these monumental scenes by layering hand-cut Japanese paper onto canvas, with only rare areas of painting. Figures and forms emerge through that meticulous layering, and the compositions shift between precision and abstraction. She draws on literature, music, and global histories to craft symbolic, open-ended narratives, so there's plenty to pick apart.

The show was organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the San José Museum of Art, and it's a traveling one. From here, it moves to the San José Museum of Art from February 12 to July 12, 2027, and then to the Wichita Art Museum from August 14, 2027, to January 2, 2028, with support from Hauser & Wirth and Victoria Miro. There's also a catalogue that came out with texts by Berrío and Katherine Brodbeck, and interviews by Valéria Piccoli, if you want to read more after the session.

The Stop & Chat is on Tuesday, October 27, at 11 AM in Galleries 275 and 276 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 Third Avenue South. It's free.