Coatlicue & Las Meninas

The mirror has been a powerful symbol invoked in the arts across centuries and cultures. Mirrors double reality, question the veracity of your perception, open portals to other dimensions, and act as objects of magic and divination. In the series Black Mirror/Espejo Negro (2007, ongoing), Pedro Lasch employs the mirror as an emblem that interrogates the tension between presence and absence, colonial histories, and the politics of visibility. The selections from the series displayed in this installation conceptually bring together canonical works of art from early modern Europe and prominent pre-Columbian sculptural figures, whose superimposed images emerge specter-like through darkened glass. Each work includes an accompanying text the artist produced for that pairing.  

The focal point of the exhibition is Lasch’s newest addition, a ten-foot black mirror merging Diego Velázquez’s iconic painting Las Meninas (1656) and the monumental sculpture of the Mexica deity Coatlicue (1400s). Throughout the series, the reflective surfaces incorporate audiences into their smoky images, becoming liminal spaces that encourage viewers to reflect on the movement of people, ideas, and objects across time and space; contemplate histories of colonization–and our place within them; and question how we ascribe value to material culture.  

Pedro Lasch’s Coatlicue & Las Meninas: The Stanford Edition (2007/2025) is the first artwork commissioned for “What Can Become of Us?,” a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square, envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences. The year-long series activates four regions of the United States and highlights newly commissioned works of art to inspire a national conversation, through exhibitions, public programs, and essays, about working toward a better future.  

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About the artist:

Pedro Lasch (Mexico/US/Germany) is a visual artist, Duke University professor, and Social Practice Lab director at The Franklin Humanities Institute. He is also director of Duke’s Artistic Research Initiative, with support from the Mellon Foundation (2023-2026). Lasch has exhibited internationally including at the Nasher Museum of Art; the Phillips Collection; MoMA PS1; Centro Nacional de las Artes, MUAC; Prospect 4 Triennial New Orleans (2017), Havana Biennial (2015), Documenta 13 & 15; and the 56th Venice Biennale.