Artist Statement
“Guided by intuition, I look eternally with resonance to myself and draw inspiration from nature, the majestic forest cathedrals of Canada as I see them and the Mexican land of tezontle red. Sense of place, the notion of space and memory, a close relation to nature and, the natural movements that flow in the associative weave of culture, are central in my creative process. A constant migration between Mexico and Canada, motivates me to see a symbolic identification with the image of the migratory movement of the monarch butterfly, a direct and perhaps the most beautiful link between my two habitats.
I have an affective relationship with materials and the landscape, place, the natural and architectural spaces I live, the spaces I inhabit. In the creative process, I unfold the mysteries of each material, form and content, so that drawing breathes its own air. On the surface of the small and large format paper, be it drawn, etched, pique, cut, collaged or embroidered, I explore a series of visual correspondences that exist between nature, culture and my own experience.
Over the textures and aromas of jungle, pressed into handmade paper and the memory of corn leaves directly printed on paper, my drawings open up a dialogue between art and nature, an imaginary landscape set in a timeless rhythm.
I see art as a way of life, my art responds to my surroundings, the natural landscape, the spaces I inhabit, the art that motivates me, the poetry that speaks to me, music that moves me, my handmade papers, my Mexican and Indonesian textiles, the art of cooking and stories of its ingredients, flavors, aromas and colors, the Guadalupe culture, the culture of chocolate and the wise and millenary milpa corn culture, a biodiversity system of agriculture. “Making milpa’ is like making art, metaphorically speaking. Milpa is a cultural space and time, a biodiverse ecosystem of agriculture that uses various genetic resources.
I work on the series: milpapel/1000papers, Drawing life with flowers, Creative Hands, Arbol, Paper Huipiles, Flora, Cempoalxochitl, Tropicos eternos /Evergreen. In Migration: Tagging Traces, Memories and Territories, my paper installations, mark a space where the spectator encounters him or herself. It explores a dialogue of an ofrenda and song to nature, a paper installation containing, marks, images, the imprint of my creative process and the memory of corn a leaf printed on paper, all of which, speaks about place and inhabiting space. I draw life through the form of a flower, iconic of the strength and fragility of life and the universal design that we all share, humans, plants and animals.
On occasions, my drawings become large scale paper huipiles as they take on the traditional triptych form of the huipil dress woven in three panels on a back strap loom, a cultural object that identifies gender, culture and communicates ancient truths in private. The hand made papers and natural rock mica, placed over the large amate papers, evoke the memory in the layers of natural and cultural history that shape the land or the image of hand made papers waiting in rows for air to finish the process.
I see this memory, in the walls of architectural spaces, they contain stories of those who inhabited them, but especially in those magical spaces of beauty and respect that nourish the soul and enlighten us to comprehend our natural and cultural evolution intimately linked to the aesthetics of place. I am thinking of spaces like: Mitla, Tepeyac, the Mexico City zocalo main plaza and Chapultepec, where the ancient willow trees live and are guardians of the poetry of Nezahualcoyotl, the monarch butterfly sanctuaries, the Yukon Territory and the forests in Northern Ontario in Canada, the land that carries the scent of sweet grass, or simply in a ravine in San Agustin Etla or the untouched beaches along the Mexican blue Pacific Coast.
The tradition of gardening in Canada, taught me the creative process of designing with different plant tones and textures. I see the garden as a place between the cultivated and natural worlds. My drawings explore that place, unfolding the spiritual and sensual experience of creation. The sacred icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a powerful collective image for Mexicans, is a recurrent image in my work, it is an encounter with my Mexicaness. My dialogue with her has been forever and ever, she is central in my upbringing and in my life, and is mestiza like me, made of Amerindian and European substances.
With the confident flight of migratory species, in ritual migration Monarch butterfly and I return each year to the morada of our ancestors, the sanctuary of Guadalupe-Tonantzin, mi tierra, where day follows night over the millenary design of the petate. It is a return to our origins, the land of the milpa and the large jade green agaves and crickets, the conch sea shell purple, indigo blue and black copal incense. We return to the place of the beautiful barroque ofrendas and laughing sugar skulls, where by the river’s edge in November, life and death are interwoven in a ritual illuminated by marigold petals during ‘dia de muertos’. I am careful to walk in the path of light ‘cualli ohtli’ and with me I carry always, the image which is my own, that of the land of tezontle red, yellow biruxi’ and orange marigold, where mockingbird sings in 400 voices, water chocolate comes with flowers and where every fall, the migrant butterflies always return.”
I understand art as an open work, open to encounter and dialogue, and in this sense, drawing is a thinking and feeling form. My drawing leaves the imprint of my creative process, it is a camino, a path and continuous discovery of my own correspondence with the world I share .”
