The Proposal follows conceptual artist Jill Magid as she develops a radical project to explore artistic legacy. At its heart is the work of the Pritzker Prize-winning Mexican architect Luis Barragán, which is aggressively “protected” and kept from the public by its copyright holders.

By cultivating relationships with Barragán’s family, admirers, institutions, and the rights holders—including extensive correspondence with the director of the Barragan Foundation—Magid consequently constructs a thoughtful love story between the director, herself, and the architect. Ultimately, The proposal is a startling, provocative work that forces the viewer into reckoning with how an artist’s story is told, and who is permitted to do the telling.