Wednesday 15 / January / 2025
Muscat: The National Museum, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, is hosting an art exhibition titled Madeline Díaz: Nuevos Caminos.
The exhibition features over 20 artworks by the Dominican-American artist, depicting evocative landscapes and still life that explore and celebrate her cultural identity through art. The exhibition will run until 29 January 2025.
During the opening ceremony, the U.S. Ambassador to Oman, Ana Escrogima, stated: “This collaboration is more than an exhibition; it is a platform for exchange and self-expression, offering Omani youth the opportunity to interact with themes of identity through nature, which is a key theme in Madeline Diaz’s work.
The artwork of landscapes—from the Grand Canyon in the U.S. to Jebel Shams in Oman—inspire reflection on identity and belonging. Through this exhibition, visitors will explore these themes, encouraging them to consider their own connections to culture and history.”
The artist, Madeline Diaz, also shared her thoughts, stating: “As an artist, my work explores the complexities of identity, migration, and cultural exchange. My time in Oman allowed me to be connected with the Omani youth, exploring their traditions and exchanging ideas with them on how natural scenes and history shape our identity.
This cultural dialogue reminded me of the deep, reciprocal connections between our worlds—from the Americas to Oman—through trade, food, and shared humanity.”
The core series, Caminos (meaning “ways” or “paths” in Spanish), comprises sixteen landscapes inspired by Díaz’s travels along the Saint James Way (Camino de Santiago) in Spain, a historically and religiously significant pilgrimage route dating back to the Middle Ages.
While traversing these paths, the artist reflects on her personal journey from her native Santiago in the Dominican Republic (an island in the Caribbean) to New York City, and ultimately to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where the Saint James Way concludes.
Díaz draws parallels between the pilgrimage route and the universal act of migration, which she experienced as a child.
In the still life series, Postcolonial Bodegón (postcolonial still life), Díaz seeks to reinterpret the classic Spanish still-life genre by infusing it with products from the Americas.
By including purple and red corn, blue and purple potatoes, chocolate and hibiscus flowers, the artist celebrates the beauty, diversity and ubiquity of these products, as well as the rich diversity and contributions of her culture.
Díaz engages in a form of reverse colonization in art, acknowledging the historical flow of products from the Americas to Europe during the colonial era and its lasting impact in everyday life across borders and cultures.
Madeline Díaz was born in the Dominican Republic, raised in New York City, and is currently based in Paris. Through her artwork, she explores themes of identity, belonging, migration, place, and postcolonial legacies using a variety of art genres and mediums–from landscape to still life, and oil pastel to oil paint.
Díaz received a diploma in illustration from the High School of Fashion Industries in 1998. She holds a BA in Art History from Brown University and an MA in Museum Studies from Columbia University.
She was taught by the Cuban-American artist José Pascual Hijuelos and the French artist Patrick Laurin.
Through her work, Díaz seeks to acknowledge the long-lasting impact of the old European art masters on her artistic development, while searching for and creating space for her own voice and complex cultural identity.
In addition to her work as an artist, Díaz has over 20 years of experience designing and leading programmes for museums and cultural institutions in the U.S. and France, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the National Museum of the American Latino, the Grand Palais, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie.
She frequently teaches museum education at the University of Versailles and travels regularly between France, Spain, and the U.S. -ONA
