Alma Allen: Nunca Solo

Alma Allen: Nunca Solo accompanys the artist’s exhibition at Museo Anahuacalli, Diego Rivera’s iconic museum in Mexico City. With translations in both English and Spanish, this volume delves into Allen’s ongoing engagement with time, form, and hybridity through twenty-six newly commissioned sculptures installed among the volcanic architecture and grounds of the museum. 

The publication features over 70 illustrations alongside a long-form interview between the artist and exhibition curator Karla Niño de Rivera, a meditation on site-specificity by world-renowned architect Mauricio Rocha, and an essay surrounding the mythologies and ecological potentials shared across Rivera and Allen’s work by curator and critic Mimi Zeiger. Encompassing the narratives enacted by Allen’s contemporary intervention, Nunca Solo follows the symbolic and ritualistic potentials of these sculptures in dialogue with Mesoamerican culture. Informed by the unique structure of how time is perceived within Museo Anahuacalli, where the ancient and present collide, each author discusses different facets of the museum and collection in context with Allen’s work—from the Aztec goddess Coatlicue, the energy of Colima figures, and these objects’ historical use as portals into other worlds. 

Alma Allen: Nunca Solo is the first book to be published on the contemporary exhibition program at Museo Anahuacalli following the extension designed by Taller de Arquitectura–Mauricio Rocha. 

With contributions by Alma Allen, Karla Niño de Rivera, Mauricio Rocha, and Mimi Zeiger. Edited by Stephanie Cristello. 

Physical description:
Hardcover, 144 pages 
Edition of 2,000 
Mexico City: Museo Anahuacalli; New York: Kasmin Books, 2023 
ISBN: 978-1-947232-96-9
9 x 11.25 inches