Desplazamientos
Artist’s StatementDesplazamientos
Galería Kin
November 2002
The pulse of life is concentrated in one’s feet: in movement, in stillness, in balance, in strength and in equilibrium. The polarity between the head (encompassing the mind-idea dichotomy) and the feet form a central axis, an identity. Feet are the anchors that touch the ground – they are rhythm and repetition. They run, they walk, they leave footprints. With our feet we can become global nomads. We can forge new paths, cover time, space and geographic distances. We have the opportunity to better understand a different culture as well as find out more about ourselves, although the experience is not always a comfortable one.
Where do we come from? Where are we going? What roads, paths, journeys and stages have we traveled? With whom? That is the subject explored in this exhibit. As I developed this work, the idea of creating a bond occurred to me – the need that we have to walk with others. That is how the work entitled “Feet In Sent Envelopes” emerged.
This project began with an invitation extended to 38 artist-friends of mine. I requested their participation with the self-photography of their feet, an act that would share something about themselves. Self-portraits? I requested that these photos be sent to me through the mail. The artists that participated in this piece, all with whom I have established personal relationships, were born in Mexico, The United States, Ireland, Colombia, Spain, Argentina and Cuba; the majority studied and are currently living outside their country of origin. Each of their responses was important to me.
Part of this project has been to compare their diversity, at times with immediate acceptance, other times with indifference, silence, questioning, friendship and curiosity. With the photographs received from 25 different artists, I developed unique pieces, although collectively they make up a single work. The order in which the envelopes arrived was vital to the composition of this work. As time elapsed, the dialogue, which emerged, and the interest generated, were key factors in determining how and where I “stand”.
The map of Mexico City on the cover of this catalogue indicates that I am still here after many years, with my feet planted in the Federal District. Nevertheless, my nuclear family as well as my friends are dispersed, spread around the globe for many different reasons.
We are constantly walking from one place to another. I move in order to BE, in order to communicate, taking firm steps, tiptoeing at times, moving forward, receding, falling, picking myself up – but always with may feet planted on the ground.
The map of Mexico City on the cover of this catalogue indicates that I am still here after many years, with my feet planted in the Federal District. Nevertheless, my nuclear family as well as my friends are dispersed, spread around the globe for many different reasons.
We are constantly walking from one place to another. I move in order to BE, in order to communicate, taking firm steps, tiptoeing at times, moving forward, receding, falling, picking myself up – but always with may feet planted on the ground.
“Don’t fall into the descent or the ascent of your path. Don’t look for the obstacles behind you or ahead of you, and don’t let anything knock you over. Lead yourselves along good roads, lovely, flat roads. ”.
Popol-vuh.