Beédxe Residency

Description

This artwork was made during my residency at Estudio Abierto in Oaxaca, Mexico.

How is collective memory built in native communities? What symbols do they use to redefine ancient worldviews? What practices do they weave in common to form the collective identity?
These triggering questions took me on a research trip through the Zapotec communities of Oaxaca, learning local legends, interviewing artisans of traditional trades and knowing the uses and customs.
The work portrays rug makers from Teotitlán del Valle, potters and totoperas from the Istmo of Tehuantepec, frets from Mitla and Monte Albán. Also alebrijes and carnivals of San Martín Tilcajete, mythical legends of creation such as the water snake and the jaguar: taking the nahual concept to denote the human-animal duality.
Conversations, quotes and reflections complete the scene, elaborating on the solidarity processes of Zapotec symbolic construction from their own perspective.