Expressions From An Artistic Agitator, Otis College of Art and Design, 2015.
Zine below created for Art Installations featured in Otis' Annual Fine Arts Senior Exhibition 2015
Zine below created for Art Installations featured in Otis' Annual Fine Arts Senior Exhibition 2015
Installing Wheat Pasted Offerings of "The resurrection of Lady Yohl Ik'nal or "Lady Heart of the Wind Place"
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My existence and role in this world is to be an artistic agitator, one that over whelms and pushes viewers to seek resolutions. Beginning with myself, I am a survivor of trauma, working to decipher notions of reality and the future. Found and ephemeral materials serve as tools to empower and heal communities. I seek to construct inventive actions of resistance against patriarchy, heteronormative culture, and capitalism to insure the self-preservation of people of color and the Earth. Witnessing and being a part of the Loving Accountability Bike Tour has allowed me to embrace and acknowledge celestial movements, and the relationship this has to understanding my body and queer spirit within this Earth. The tour was organized by the Los Angeles based collective, LA Rooted, generated to focus on the empowerment of those who identify as Queer, Trans, and/or as a Person(s) of Color. Together we traveled over 150 miles while engaging in issues of accountability to self, our communities and the environment. These installations represent the well-being, growth and unity in the grounding of our paths thru the participation of the tour. The Loving Accountability Bike Tour was magic at its core and recognizing this has opened my understanding of the celestial form. The resurrection of Lady Yohl Ik'nal or "Lady Heart of the Wind Place" which was found in Galef’s downstairs hallway evokes these progressions of Oneness between our divine and shadow selves. Ix Yohl Ik'nal, was one of the few female rulers known in Mesoamerican history. She inherited the kingdom of Palenque through the death of her father, Kan Bahlam I, whom left no male heir and ruled the kingdom for twenty years. This installation is my vision of her warrior energy and spirit’s rebirth through the Vision Serpent, which was used by the Classic Maya as a symbol of foretelling. The Loving Accountability collective and other close family and friends have invoked this rebirth. The resurrection of Lady Yohl Ik’nal’s mind, body and spirit to this earth is unmistakable with these wheat pasted offerings and her energy is felt among the families and friends around me. |
The Rooted DozenThe current series of work featured in the 2015 Otis Fine Arts Exhibition begins with the piece titled, The Rooted Dozen. These ceramic pieces were made with the intention of being gifted to the participants of the Loving Accountability Bike Tour 2015. The tour was organized by the Los Angeles based collective, LA Rooted, generated to focus on the empowerment of those who identify as Queer, Trans, and/or as a Person of Color. Together we traveled over 150 miles while engaging in issues of accountability to self, our communities and the environment. These sculptures represent the well-being, growth and unity in the grounding of our paths thru the participation of the tour. The Loving Accountability Bike Tour was magic at its core and recognizing this has opened my understanding of the celestial form. |
Vision: Venus of Tlatilco with MacawThe tour fueled the manifestation of the installation titled, Vision: Venus of Tlatilco with Macaw. Tlatilco is a city in the Valley of Mexico that is home to ancient figurines or artifacts one of which represents the planet and entity known as Venus. Many cultures have paid tribute to Venus, however my sculpture references Mesoamerican beliefs founded in celestial observations. Venus is representative of duality because of it cyclical shift between a morning star and an evening star. The Macaw serves as a beautiful representation of Central America and in combination with Venus am trying to speak on Venus’ orbital positioning and power as an energy. Witnessing and being a part of the Bike tour has allowed me to embrace and acknowledge celestial movements, and the relationship this has to understanding my body and spirit within this Earth. |
Mayan Portal
"An Arranged Marriage" Group Exhibition at the Bolsky Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Fall 2014
Action One
Through my collective experiences, I have realized the power of visual graphics and gorilla actions, inspiring the first of many actions titled, Mayan Portal. This portal is activated thru the synergy of its visitors by standing, kneeing, laying, sitting and possibly sleeping on the glyph; yub’te’ meaning, tribute mantle or tribute cloth. A visitor can decide to interact with this portal by cleansing oneself with sage, and then lighting a candle in prayer. I created this portal in order to ascend each visitor’s prayers and positive energies to the Lords of the Night and the Ancestors, which have been wheat pasted on the walls and ceiling of the Bolsky Gallery. The Lords of the night are gods that preside over the night each having their own connection to various elements such as fire, stone, and time, which allows them to transcend into the earth. “Each lord recurs every nine nights and each is said - like astronomical signs - to have had an effect on the world over which they presided.” I believe this earth is in crisis because of the conflicts that are arising around the world, and even in my own personal life. These glyphs invite us to engage and ask for guidance from our divine light ancestors as we enter into the dream realms. Mayan Portal is an action in response to that, defined as the matrimony between 21st Century materials and ancient wisdom. Using a street art guerilla aesthetic and combining it with the Ch’olan and Yucatec written language I hope to create awareness. I am interested in provoking questions that resist capitalist religious belief systems. I invite the viewer to engage with these hieroglyphs and acknowledge more than just an illustration, but possibly see these representations as a portal of communication between the Lords of the Night, the Ancestors and oneself. This action is in recognition of their presence and mystical powers in the 21st century, which I am beginning to acknowledge more and more. This ancestry is igniting all my senses and will be fueling future actions to come. So keep a look out, and I encourage everyone to create actions of resistance. ¡Que Viva Las Resistencia’s Internationales y locales! |