October 28th, 2026
Opening February 20, 2027, at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), “Chicomoztoc: The Cosmic Throne” is the first solo museum exhibition by artist Estephania González. The exhibition draws on Mesoamerican cosmology and quantum physics as active guides to speculate on fractured borders, ecological collapse and possible futures.
CAPTION: “Estephania González | Chicomoztoc: The Cosmic Throne” will open on February 20, 2027, at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). Image courtesy of the artist.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Opening February 20, 2027, at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), “Chicomoztoc: The Cosmic Throne” is the first solo museum exhibition by artist Estephania González. The exhibition draws on Mesoamerican cosmology and quantum physics as active guides to speculate on fractured borders, ecological collapse and possible futures.
González is a multidisciplinary artist working across video, performance, sculpture and installation. Through these artistic mediums, she explores concepts of spacetime and cosmologies from both physics and Indigenous narratives and how they intersect with personal identity.
“I was born in Los Angeles, raised in Mexico and immigrated to Iowa when I was 6 years old,” González said. “A lot of my work stems from that experience, and from moving to Arizona to make art about the physical and psychological borderlands people live in today.”
In 2021, González was among the artists featured in the exhibition "Forever Becoming: Young Phoenix Artists" at SMoCA, which was curated by Lauren R. O’Connell, curator of contemporary art. O’Connell continued to follow González’s career and saw the significance and timeliness of presenting her work in a new solo exhibition.
"Right now, there is a lot of disillusionment and discontent about the present, and during times like these, we often go toward escapism," O’Connell said. “I think what Estephania provides is not only a fantastical escape but a place for re-envisioning our present and future, while also engaging with serious topics such as geopolitics.”
“Chicomoztoc: The Cosmic Throne” is presented as an immersive installation that weaves together the ritual tunnels beneath the pre-Aztec city of Teotihuacan and the mythological Chicomoztoc — also known as the "Place of the Seven Caves," central to Nahua origin stories. From these, González envisions a sequence of chambers in which terrestrial and cosmological forces, and the consciousness moving between them, shape a living framework for imagining alternative realities.
“I'm really interested in the relationship between the micro and the macro, the quantum scale and the cosmic scale,” González said. “Pebbles, drops of water, dust particles, frequencies: the smallest things, the ones we can't see, build up into bigger parts of a whole. I draw inspiration from these concepts and interpret them alongside Mexica cosmology, and that's how I've come to see the world around me: small parts making up the whole.”
“The Cosmic Throne” is the first of three within a planned "Chicomoztoc" trilogy — which González is organizing as independent exhibitions — and represents the celestial origin point of her series. Visitors will enter through a metaphorical portal leading to The Cosmic Throne chamber, where concepts of time, space and identity collapse.
Within the chamber is a polished obsidian pool that reflects the cosmos, symbolizing Tezcatlipoca, the Mexica (Aztec) deity whose obsidian mirror connects the visible world with realms of knowledge, transformation and the unknown. Rising from the pool is an altar-like throne layered with offerings: objects collected from various periods of González's own life alongside pieces made by Mexican and Latin American artisans, illuminated by the reflective obsidian below and a cosmic projection above.
The next two parts of the trilogy — "The Apocalyptic Borderland," representing terrestrial, political and ecological rupture at the U.S./Mexico border, and "Terminus,” a liminal space unbound by geographic and temporal boundaries — will not be shown during the run of this exhibition at SMoCA. González is currently working on the elements that make up the remaining trilogy installations and plans to exhibit them in the near future.
González is using the “Chicomoztoc” trilogy to process her own generational trauma. She said it's a form of "healing out loud" as she seeks to represent the process through past, present and future. Ultimately, the exhibition is a response to what is happening in the world through a lens of transformative healing.
At SMoCA’s Spring Celebration on March 5, González will premiere a new performance, “Revelando el futuro,” in which she embodies the Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca (the Smoking Mirror) and its animal form, the jaguar, to imagine possible futures. Site-responsive and interactive, the performance responds to the energies and presence of viewers in the space, making each iteration unique.
Additional programming will accompany the exhibition, including a public artist-curator walkthrough on the opening day, Saturday, Feb. 20, as well as new moon ceremonies led by the artist.
Located in Old Town Scottsdale, SMoCA opened in 1999. The museum is located at 7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Admission is $16 for non-members; $13 for students, seniors (65+) and veterans; and free for Scottsdale Arts ONE Members, healthcare workers, first responders, and patrons 18 and younger. Admission to the museum is pay-what-you-wish every Thursday and every second Saturday of the month.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sydney Ritter | SydneyR@ScottsdaleArts.org | 480-874-4663