Marcus Xavier Chormicle is a lens-based artist and independent curator from Las Cruces, New Mexico and lineal descendant of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. His work focuses on family, memory, and the intersection of class, race, and history in the Southwest.
He recently closed the Cristian Anthony Vallejo Memorial Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico, an art space dedicated to his late little cousin who passed away of a drug overdose in 2020. During the two year run at the gallery he curated 15 exhibitions of primarily Indigenous and Latinx artists, with exhibitions focusing on generational cycles, issues of migration, spirituality, and Indigenous ways of expressing place.
In 2023 he completed the Light Work Artist in Residency Program in Syracuse, New York, and in 2024 he completed the New Mexico Arts Fellowship and residency in Lincoln New Mexico.
In 2024 he has split his time between Las Cruces, NM and Séc-He (Palm Springs, CA), his ancestral homeland, to develop ongoing projects. This year he has shown in Phoenix, El Paso, Las Cruces, and Tucson, with plans to show in Palm Springs in March 2025. Additionally he recently co-curated an exhibition of 5 Indigenous artists at Smoke The Moon, a gallery space in Santa Fe, NM that opened during the weekend of Indian Market.
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Contact
Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico
Email: marcuschormicle@gmail.com
Instagram: @chormicle
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Education
BA - Journalism and Mass Communications August 2016 - May 2020
Minors - Studio Art, Digital Marketing
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
CAV Gallery
Founded by Marcus Xavier Chormicle November 2020
Residencies
2024 New Mexico Arts Artist Residency, Lincoln, NM - Feb 2024
Light Work Artist In Residency, Syracuse, NY - October 2023
OTIS College Summer Residency, Santa Monica, California - June 2020 (Canceled due to COVID-19)
Las Cruces Arts and Cultural District Artist Residency, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Feb. 2021
Curatorial Experience
“Tú Eres Tú”, CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Sep 2021
“XTRA: The Divine Self” CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Dec 2021
“El Santo Niño Project” CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Jan 2022
“Celestial Bodies” CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Mar 2022
“‘NM’ An Original View Through Indigenous Photography, CAV Gallery, - June 2022
“Cura” Jose Lucero & Maryssa Rose Chavez, CAV Gallery, - Jan 2023
Exhibition History
Solo Exhibitions
“Mijo, The Sky Is Falling”, Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso, TX - May 2024
Still Playing With Fire, Gone Tomorrow Gallery, Tucson, AZ - Nov 2022
Still Playing With Fire, CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, NM - August 2022
Xico Inc, Phoenix, Arizona - January 2021 (Virtual)
Group Exhibitions
“Tú Eres Tú”, CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Sep 2021
“The One With All The Squares” El Paso Frame Co., El Paso, Texas - Nov 2021
“El Santo Niño Project” CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - Jan 2022
“Outcropping: Indigenous Art Now”, Southampton Art Center, Southampton, New York - Feb 22
“‘NM’ An Original View Through Indigenous Photography, CAV Gallery, - June 2022
“Photo Now” Woodstock Center For Photography, Kingston, New York - Nov 2022
“Tú Eres Tú”, CAV Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico - July 2023
Publications
“Say Uncle”, Published by CAV Gallery - Sep 2021
F-Stop Magazine, Featured Portfolio - Dec 2020
Southwest Contemporary Magazine, “Bodies//Boundaries” issue - Spring 2021
Soft Qrtly, “Winter 2020” - Jan 2021
Distant Zine, Published by Tim Carpenter and Nathan Pearce - Jan 2021
Awards and Acknowledgements
Workshop De Allende - Scholarship Recipient - 2023
Foto Forum Santa Fe- Members ShowBest in Show - 2022
Radius Scholarship for the Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb Photobook Workshop - March 2020
Kris Graves Projects Lost III - Shortlisted - January 2020
Charcoal Book Club Portfolio Review - Selected Attendee - March 2019
Charcoal Book Club Portfolio Review - Selected Attendee - March 2018