Speaking in Tongues: Luis Fernando Zapata. ICA LA - Los Angeles

ICA LA presents Speaking in Tongues, a timely exhibition that unites an intergenerational and international group of contemporary artists from the Global South, including Indigenous and diasporic voices, to explore art as a vital conduit to the spiritual. By centering the spiritual as a tool for survival, kinship, and communion at a moment when religion is frequently weaponized to divide, the presentation features both new and pre-existing artworks that engage with rituals, altars, and ecstatic forms of expression that expand our understanding of the sacred beyond traditional religious spaces like churches, temples, or mosques. The exhibition’s title subverts a term often associated with the Pentecostal church—where individuals are so consumed by the Holy Spirit that they speak in indecipherable tongues—to instead point toward mother tongues and ancestral rituals that evade colonial capture and systemic erasure. Accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue and public programs, Speaking in Tongues celebrates forms of knowledge traditionally excluded from art history textbooks, ultimately illuminating the spiritual as an essential method for remembering, storytelling, and navigating our shared world.