Xilam Balam

Saint Paul

Xilam Balam (b. San Antonio, Texas and raised on the Eastside of St. Paul) is an emerging multidisciplinary contemporary visual artist, muralist, ceramicist, and music producer whose work is a fusion of Pre-Columbian Indigenous art forms with contemporary hip-hop and graphic arts. He was a 2018 Mcknight Ceramics Fellow with a focus on ceramic instruments and masks, exhibiting at the Watermark Center in Bemidji, MN. He works in a variety of mediums including music, ceramics, painting, digital design, screen-printing, stone carving, and epigraphy. His work as a musician has been highlighted in Chican@ Hip-Hop Nation: Politics of a New Millennial Mestizaje, The Source Magazine, and on TPT MN Original. He has performed across the country and in Mexico, producing, exhibiting, and teaching workshops locally. Balam is a co-founder and teaching artist with Electric Machete Studios, the Twin Cities Indigenous and Latinx art and music lab. His mural projects can be seen in Shoreview Library, El Colegio Charter School, Lake Street, Northeast Minneapolis, and in private residences.

Connect
@xilam_balam
@electricmachete