Georgina Pounds’ Guide to Mexico City

Portrait of Georgina Pounds at Studio Lazcano by Caroline Lucia. Image courtesy: Georgina Pounds Gallery, Mexico.

Georgina Pounds is a British art dealer who has been based in Mexico City since 2018. February 2026 marks the inauguration of her eponymous Gallery, coinciding with the international art fair Zona Maco.

Having trained in architecture, Georgina’s introduction to the art world through assisting Damien Hirst on his exhibition Treasures of the Wreck of the Unbelievable. Presented in Venice in 2017, Hirst’s project rendered mythology at monolithic scale making international headlines. Georgina later relocated to Mexico to work with the boutique hotelier Grupo Habita. Through working on the Hotel Sevilla in Mérida, she was introduced to the diverse cultural and architectural landscape of the country.

This background led her to become Director of Hirst’s gallery Hilario Galguera in Mexico City, before joining OMR, one of the city’s most recognised contemporary galleries, as their Director in 2023. Georgina Pounds Gallery’s inaugural exhibitions open 4 February 2026, in an ornate architecture dating to 1911, situated in the city’s creative district of Roma Norte.

Georgina Pounds Gallery’s programme is informed by the historic context of the building, the neighbourhood and the ongoing legacy of artists inspired by Mexico. The gallery will be presenting a range of emerging, mid-career, and established artists who have or are still engaging with the diverse cultural landscape of the country.

Georgina’s collaborative approach is exemplified through the inaugural exhibitions and forthcoming programming that will continue the building's legacy as a cultural meeting point. Vanessa Raw’s first solo show in Mexico is presented together with the influential British gallerist Carl Freedman, which coincides with a group exhibition curated by Constantin Nakov.

Image credits: (1, 2, 4, 6) Gallery facade in Roma Norte and interior of Georgina Pounds Gallery, Mexico City. Photos: Jacob Hill. All images courtesy of Georgina Pounds Gallery; (3) Vanessa Raw, Chills Down My Spine, 2025, Oil on linen, 230 x 200 cm. Courtesy of Carl Freedman Gallery and Georgina Pounds Gallery; (5) Detail of Vigía de su sueño, 2022. Courtesy of Studio Mónica Figueroa; (7) Portrait of Tali Lennox. Courtesy of Studio Tali Lennox Photo: Kingsley Iffil. (8) Studio Lazcano; (9, 10) Portraits of Georgina Pounds by Caroline Lucia.

Georgina also runs an artist residency programme, Studio Lazcano, out of her home in Casa Estudio, a lightfilled Modernist structure by Augusto H. Álvarez. Art Guides World is grateful to get tips and insights into her programme and the wider context it sits within ahead of the week when the art world flocks to CDMX. ¡Muchísimas gracias! Thank you Georgina!

☉ How do you see your gallery’s programme entering into dialogue with the historic neighbourhood of Roma Norte?

Opening the gallery in a building from 1911 was a conscious decision. I wanted to listen first to the city, the architecture and the previous use of the space before inviting the artists. In many ways, the building and its memory define the exhibition programme, honouring the past while opening a new chapter.

Mexico City is facing a transition period, yet Roma Norte continues to hold a quiet connection to its past. The Colonia’s architecture is constantly evolving and adapting to new uses and rhythms. When taking a close look, it remains grounded in a city shaped both by memory and development.

The artists exhibited are also those who have found, or continue to find, inspiration in Mexico: a blend of history, imagination, witchcraft and everyday magic. The programme brings together established, mid-career, and emerging artists, Mexican and international, but connected to the city.

Artists such as Sofía Bassi, María Kalach, Mónica Figueroa, and Tali Lennox feel inherently connected to the rooms of the gallery, which were originally named after figures like Frida Kahlo, Marguerite Yourcenar and Luis Cernuda. Each carries a symbolic presence, quietly haunting the space with their artistic legacy.

☉ Between art and architecture, what are three places you highly recommend seeing in the city?

Casa Pedregal (formally Casa Prieto), designed by Luis Barragan demonstrates how simple form and light are some of the most important elements of architecture. I often visit to think about space, proportion and its emotional impact.

Museo Anahuacalli, which is also in the south of Mexico City, is built in volcanic rock and notably as what-was-to-be Frida Kahlo’s tomb. The floor plan based on earth, wind, fire and water, enlightens ceilings of unraveling snake mosaics and otherworldly pre-Hispanic references.

Finally, Bosco Sodi’s studio and Casa Wabi Mexico City. Designed by Alberto Kalach in the factory neighbourhood, the space is built with concrete, functional and deeply connected to materiality; it resonates with Tadao Ando’s Casa Wabi in Puerto Escondido. Together, they demonstrate how architecture can enhance and respond to art - and vice versa.

 ☉ Apart from your own gallery and the fair, where else do you plan to be during Art Week in CDMX?

Art Week brings a programme of behind-closed-doors breakfasts, some include Perla Krauze’s studio, Fernando Botero’s family apartment, Museo Anahuacalli and each morning at Casa Polanco’s where you can find artists in conversations. Book presentations by La Joplin and SendB00ks are also in my diary. Gemma Janes presents two artist books: Companions, with a special cover by Tali Lennox, and A Wizard of Earthsea, with a cover by Jessica Luostarinen.

Alongside this, I’ll be visiting Salón Acme, Material and Galería Errante at Factoria, as well as joining guided visits through the modernist architecture of the south with Cristina Artigas. I’m also very much looking forward to seeing the new exhibition at the Olivia Foundation.

Finally, as always during Art Week, there will be Aquarian birthday dinners and drinks. Including with the journalist and curator Katy Hessel, artists from the gallery Caroline Absher and Tali Lennox, gallerist and friend Elisabeth Johs, and Elisa Malo who is illustrating her dreams into life… the list continues. Today also marks the first day of the Aquarian calendar so it seems particularly relevant.