Due to heavy rain in the forecast, tonight’s High Line Tour: From Freight to Flowers has been canceled. We look forward to seeing you on a future tour!
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Ximena Garrido-Lecca
The Golden Crop
On the High Line at 23rd Street
Ximena Garrido-Lecca uses sculpture and installation to highlight the complex relationship between Indigenous knowledge, colonial history, and modern technological and industrial systems. She foregrounds the historical landscape of her native Peru in her practice, yet she draws connections beyond those borders to consider the global impact of resource exploitation. Central to her recent work is her ongoing research into the “botanical diaspora”—the global dissemination of plants first domesticated by Indigenous cultures—tracing the movement of life, capital, and power across time and soil.
For the High Line, Garrido-Lecca presents The Golden Crop, a nine-foot corn cob water fountain, made of bronze. Corn holds a central position in pre-Columbian mythology and was considered the origin of humanity by the Aztecs and Maya. It also is one of the most important crops in the global economy, and is often genetically modified to tolerate pesticides like glyphosate. Glyphosate has sparked debates for its effects on human health and the environment, such as river contamination. Garrido-Lecca dyed the water that trickles down the corn and between the kernels to have a neon yellow hue, a reference to the toxic chemical and its effects on runoff water sources, particularly those that communities use for drinking, fishing, and recreation. The artist also highlights the way industrial farming and GMO corn have impacted the existence and strength of native varieties, risking the erosion of cultural heritage associated with these crops, ultimately, challenging the viewer to reconsider the social, health, and environmental costs of our interconnected modern world.
Artist bio
Ximena Garrido-Lecca (b. 1980, Lima, Peru) lives and works between Mexico City, Mexico, and Lima, Peru. She has had solo exhibitions at prominent institutions around the world including The Wexner Center, Columbia, Ohio (2026); The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois, (2025); CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2023); Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), Costa Mesa, California, (2019); Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2018); Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico (2017); Museo Mario Testino (MATE), Lima, Peru (2014); and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Middlesbrough, United Kingdom (2012). She has participated in major international exhibitions including To Carry, Sharjah Biennial 16, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2025); Once Within a Time, 12th SITE Santa Fe International, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States (2025); Shared Horizons, 15th Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba (2024); This Too, Is a Map, 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul, South Korea (2023); In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire, Kochi–Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2022); Faz escuro mas eu canto, 34th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); and Imagined Communities, 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil (2019).
Support
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston and Charina Endowment Fund. Major support of High Line Art’s digital infrastructure is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Program support for High Line Art is provided by Sarah Arison, Suzanne Deal Booth, Charlotte Ford, Joyce F. Menschel and Stardust Arts. Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund and Shane Akeroyd.
High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Julie Menin.
Sobre esta obra
Ximena Garrido-Lecca (n. 1980, Lima, Perú) usa esculturas e instalaciones para resaltar la relación compleja entre el conocimiento Indígena, la historia colonial, y los sistemas tecnológicos e industriales modernos. En su práctica destaca el panorama histórico de su nativo Perú, pero traza conexiones más allá de esas fronteras para considerar también el impacto global de la explotación de recursos.
Para el High Line, Garrido-Lecca presenta The Golden Crop, una fuente de agua en forma de mazorca de maíz hecha de bronce. El maíz es uno de los cultivos más importantes en la economía global y tiene un lugar central en la mitología precolombina al ser considerado el orígen de la humanidad por los pueblos Azteca y Maya. A su vez es a menudo modificado genéticamente para poder tolerar pesticidas como el glifosato, algo que ha generado debate por su impacto perjudicial en la salud humana y ambiental. Garrido-Lecca tintó el agua que cae entre los granos con un amarillo neón, en referencia a la sustancia química tóxica y sus efectos sobre nuestras fuentes de agua. La artista destaca la forma en la que la agricultura industrial y el maíz transgénico han eliminado o debilitado variantes nativas que cuentan con una herencia cultural rica. The Golden Crop reta a les observadores a reconsiderar los costos sociales, de salud y ambientales de nuestro mundo moderno interconectado.
关于这件作品
Ximena Garrido-Lecca（生于1980 年，秘鲁利马）以雕塑与装置为主要媒介，关注原住民知识、殖民历史与当代技术及工业体系之间的复杂关系。她的创作立足于秘鲁的历史地景，同时也将视野延伸至更广阔的范围，思考资源开采的全球性影响。
在高线公园的项目中，Ximena Garrido-Lecca呈现了作品《黄金作物》，一件以玉米棒为造型的青铜喷泉。玉米是全球经济中最重要的农作物之一，在前哥伦布时期的神话中也占据核心地位——在阿兹特克与玛雅文明中，玉米被视为人类文明的起源。与此同时，玉米也常被进行基因改造，以增强对草甘膦等农药的耐受性，而这一做法因其对人类健康与环境的潜在危害而引发广泛争议。Garrido-Lecca将沿着玉米籽粒缓缓流下的水染成荧光黄色，以此指涉这种有毒化学物质及其对水源的影响。艺术家借此揭示工业化农业与转基因玉米如何取代或削弱那些承载着丰富文化遗产的本土品种。《黄金作物》促使观众重新思考社会、健康与环境在这一相互联结的现代世界中所付出的代价。