The Materiality of Culture
featuring work by Xxavier Carter, Minji Kang-Watrous, and Cruz Ortiz
March 1st thru May 3rd, 2025
For The Materiality of Culture, Kinfolk House brings together artists whose creative practices emphasize the power of materials to reflect, shape, and challenge societal structures. Through distinct approaches, each artist explores how materials embody cultural memory, resilience, and transformation.
Fort Worth-based Xxavier Carter’s use of various mediums examines identity and communal ecologies. Dallas-based Minji Kang-Watrous incorporates Hanji, a traditional Korean handmade paper, blending past and present. San Antonio-based Cruz Ortiz contributes print works rooted in his exploration of storytelling through folk narratives and activism.
Kinfolk House is proud to continue its commitment to fostering conversations about identity, heritage, and community healing through dynamic exhibitions and public programs. The Materiality of Culture offers a space to reflect on how materials — through history and innovation — connect people and preserve stories across generations.
Featured Artists:
Dallas-born Fort Worth-based transdisciplinary artist Xxavier Carter creates work that merges research, storytelling, and community engagement across a range of media, including performance, sculpture, and poetry. His art explores themes of ecology, race, kinship, abstraction, and socio-political boundaries, often drawing on his experiences as the eldest child of a professional athlete and a saleswoman, and his upbringing across various schools and environments.
Carter holds a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University. His career has been shaped by extensive travel and residencies in countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, and France. Carter’s practice reflects a deep commitment to cultural exchange and environmental reflection. His achievements include receiving the Dallas Museum of Art’s Arch and Anne Giles Artist Award and his work being acquired by the Nasher Sculpture Center and the DMA. In addition to his visual art, Carter is an accomplished poet and the Head Artist and Engineer of Goldfish Dreams, a Dallas-based artistic publication and production house.
Xxavier Carter
Minji Kang-Watrous
Minji Kang-Watrous, a self-taught contemporary Hanji artist, is dedicated to preserving and evolving the centuries-old Korean paper-making tradition. Born and raised in Seoul, she was immersed in Hanji art through her mother’s work, unknowingly cultivating a lifelong passion for the medium. After moving to Texas in her twenties, Kang-Watrous began using Hanji as a way to connect with her heritage and overcome homesickness.
Her art bridges tradition and modernity, with each piece meticulously crafted from handmade paper sourced from a third-generation Hanji shop in Korea. Kang-Watrous’s practice emphasizes honoring ancestral methods while adapting them to a contemporary context, reflecting themes of cultural resilience and transformation. Her works continue to expand the relevance of Hanji art in today’s globalized world.
Houston-born and San Antonio-based artist Cruz Ortiz is renowned for his multi-disciplinary approach, which spans printmaking, painting, video, and performance art. Ortiz's work reflects a deep connection to themes of nature, endurance, and belonging, often utilizing bold graphic imagery and traditional printmaking techniques to convey contemporary narratives. His artistic career began with experimental projects involving guerrilla installations and projection art, rooted in punk and DIY aesthetics.
Over the years, Ortiz has evolved his practice to include dream-like landscape paintings and figurative abstraction, though his printmaking remains central to his storytelling. His corridos — Mexican narrative ballads — highlight issues facing marginalized communities, particularly those in South and West Texas. Ortiz holds a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has exhibited at major institutions such as Artpace, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and internationally at the Louvre and the San Juan Triennial. His works are part of prestigious collections, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and Ruby City. Ortiz’s career also includes 15 years of teaching in public schools and collaborations with numerous non-profit organizations.