Artist Transforms Soccer Balls into Pre-Hispanic Deities

Why this is here: González Leal began her project by connecting a decommissioned 20-peso bill—featuring the Zapotec rain god Pitao Cocijo—with a discarded soccer ball gifted to her by a person experiencing homelessness.

Gabriela González Leal, a multidisciplinary artist from Mexico, is creating sculptures and textiles from discarded soccer balls and currency. She began the project in 2018 after being invited by the Museo Banco de México to work with decommissioned paper money. González Leal associated a 20-peso bill depicting the Zapotec deity Pitao Cocijo with a soccer ball gifted to her, sparking an exploration of materials.

The artist’s work, part of the project Diosa redonda (“Round Goddess”), currently appears in the collective exhibition Futbol y arte at the Museo Jumex. A larger solo exhibition of the same name will open at the Museo de la Ciudad de México on May 23rd, featuring monumental jerseys made from fragmented balls. González Leal obtains heavily damaged balls from a local waste collector, disassembling and reassembling them into textures resembling natural forms.

She received a grant from the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte to continue Diosa redonda, currently working on a second phase, Cuerpos de agua, that will address the drying of lakes in and around Mexico State. While not a soccer fan herself, González Leal finds the collective passion surrounding the sport a fitting vehicle for exploring themes of environmental loss.