Edgar Calel Wins $75,000 Sam Gilliam Award

The Dia Art Foundation and the Sam Gilliam Foundation have named Edgar Calel as the winner of the 2026 Sam Gilliam Award, which comes with $75,000 as well as a public program at a Dia-managed site in the fall.

Calel is an artist and poet of Maya Kaqchikel heritage who is based in Chi Xot (San Juan Comalapa), Guatemala, where he was born in 1987. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance, Calel draws on the “ancestral knowledge systems, ritual practices, and the cultural traditions of Guatemala’s midwestern highlands,” per a release. In addition to a memorable solo exhibition at SculptureCenter in New York, his work has been included in the 2023 Gwangju Biennale, the 2023 Liverpool Biennial, the 2023 Bienal de São Paulo, and the 2022 Carnegie International.

The release noted that Calel was given the Gilliam Award for “his outstanding demonstration of a unique ability to work effectively and sensitively, often creating enveloping environments that incorporate a range of media while advocating for community and shared experiences.” In a statement, he said, “I thank my ancestors for giving me life and allowing me to use their wisdom to create art. I am very happy to receive this recognition, and it will help me continue exploring the world and its mysteries. Janila Matyox k’aslem—thank you so much, life, for everything.”

Calel is best-known for creating large-scale installations that often reflect the Mayan cosmovision. His work also often question notions of ownership versus stewardship as they relate to museum collections, as he did with his 2021 work The Echo of an Ancient Form of Knowledge (Ru k’ox k’ob’el jun ojer etemab’el) did. For that piece, Tate in London took on the role of custodian of the work for 13 years, after which both Tate and Calel could decide to renew the agreement. “I want to invite the public to see what I see daily in my community, and to see how all the knowledge has been handed down by my ancestors,” Calel told Art in America in 2023, when he was featured as a “New Talent” artist.  

Calel was selected by six-person jury that included Dia curators and department co-heads Jordan Carter and Matilde Guidelli-Guidi;Annie Gawlak, president of the Gilliam Foundation and the artist’s widow; Elvira Dyangani Ose, artistic director of the upcoming 2nd Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial; Shanay Jhaveri, head of visual arts at Barbican in London; and Clara Kim, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

In a statement, Gawlak said Calel’s “exploration of the environment and Indigenous histories through experimentation in material and space resonates with Sam’s approach to art making as a means to confront urgent social and political issues. Edgar’s selection as this year’s awardee extends Sam’s legacy and demonstrates the Sam Gilliam Foundation’s continued commitment to supporting and fostering the next generations of artists.”

Established in 2023 by the late artist’s foundation and administered by Dia, the Sam Gilliam Award is given each year to “an artist working anywhere in the world who has made a significant contribution in any medium and for whom the award would be transformative,” according to a release. The award is endowed through 2033, and the award’s previous winners are Ibrahim Mahama (2024) and Sheela Gowda (2025).

“Edgar Calel has a remarkable ability to create works that operate at once intimately and expansively, bringing together material, ritual, and community to form deeply resonant environments,” Dia director Jessica Morgan said in a statement. “His forthcoming public program at Dia will offer an exciting opportunity to encounter these ideas in dialogue with the institution’s program, and we are proud to support his practice through the Sam Gilliam Award.”