Michelle Letarte’s recent exhibition at Propeller Art Gallery emerges from an exchange between history and materiality. Rooted in her travels through La Antigua, Guatemala, a city once the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Letarte’s mixed-media works reimagine the visual and emotional resonance of its Baroque colonial architecture. Her process, which involves photographic transfers onto textured and recycled surfaces, followed by layers of acrylic intervention, converts the city’s weathered façades into tactile representations of endurance. The juxtaposition of ruin and restoration truly reflects the city’s own complex history, marked by natural disasters, religious devotion, and colonial power. Trained as both a scientist and an artist, Letarte approaches her subject with analytical precision and experimental curiosity. As a result, her practice draws upon a methodology of observation and reconstruction, engaging with the “aged walls” of La Antigua as vessels of cultural memory.
Michelle Letarte, Convento de Santa Clara 5, phototransfer & acrylic on board, 8 x 8 inches (left) and detail (right)
In Convento de Santa Clara 5, Michelle Letarte translates the architectural decay of Antigua’s Convento de Santa Clara into a visual exploration of warmth and temporality. The work’s dominant palette which is composed of deep ochres, rich oranges, and muted reds evokes both the sunlit patina of aged stucco and the vitality of the sacred space from which it derives. The tactile surface, achieved through phototransfer and acrylic layering, encapsulates the fragility of the convent, where centuries of devotion and destruction coexisted. Emotionally, the piece allows for an unexpected calmness. Its warm hues dominate the work, even as the textures suggest potential erosion and loss. This tension between tranquility and decay becomes central to Letarte’s visual language here. Where her abstraction and the role between warm and dark tones negotiate between presence and absence, thus evoking both the impermanence of material forms and the resonance of sensory.
Michelle Letarte, Antigua Fresco, phototransfer & acrylic on board, 8 x 8 inches (left) and detail (right)
Letarte’s Antigua Fresco, presents a meticulously rendered composition that balances both visual intrigue and emotive resonance. The work’s dominant teal background establishes a calm yet expansive spatial atmosphere, providing a sense of depth against which the central circular yellow forms assert themselves with a sort of authority. These forms, reminiscent of sunlit orbs or abstracted celestial bodies, create a natural focal point, drawing the viewer’s gaze inward and encouraging further contemplation. The textured surface, achieved through the deliberate use of phototransfer techniques and acrylic application, imbues the work with a tactile richness, suggesting both the materiality of the medium and the histories it might evoke. Emotionally, the painting elicits a pensive serenity, tempered by the subtle vibrancy of the yellow forms, which can evoke a sense of wonder.
Kaya Meziane
Images are courtesy of Propeller Art Gallery
*Exhibition information: Michelle Letarte, Antigua, Muros de Arte, October 1 – 19, 2025, Propeller Art Gallery, 30 Abell St, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 1 – 5:30pm, Sun 12 – 4pm.