Maris Bustamante

Maris Bustamante (born November 10, 1949) is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist who has presented her work in 21 solo exhibitions and over 400 group shows in Mexico and internationally. She has conceived, written, produced and executed more than 250 performances, installations, environments and two big “contraespectáculos” (anti-shows). She has presented performance art pieces through television broadcasts, which she called "social performances" involving the non-arts public. She also designs sets, costumes, and props for theatre, television, and cinema.
She studied at Escuela Nacional de Pintura Y Escultura "La Esmeralda," one of the two top art schools in Mexico, from 1968 to 1973.
In the 1970s, she began working as a conceptual artist, participating in the Groups ("Los Grupos") Movement in México City. She worked with the group NO GRUPO since its founding in 1979, until its dissolution six years later. SInce producing her first happening in 1971, she has researched non-traditional narratives.
In 1983, with Mónica Mayer, she founded the first feminist art collective in Mexico, Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder). Bustamante and Mayer's work combined radical social criticism and humour, exemplified by the group’s name: “Black Hen Powder – to protect us from the patriarchal magic which makes women disappear.”