PIEZAS ALTERADAS / ALTERED PIECES
Drawing on Rosalind Krauss' notion of marked sites, a series of altars were constructed through landscape interventions, reframed as "altered pieces". Considering how altars serve multiple ritual functions at once, from sacrifices and offerings to exalted prayer, these altered pieces present "imperfect offerings" devoted to loved ones, places, and abstractions. Gestures for prosperity are troubled by connotations of restrictions. Reverence for nature is burdened by the colonial legacy of Christian symbolism. Living and deceased loved ones are summoned for redemption together. A watch without a clock suggests lost time, an ash tray invokes carcinogens and emptied bodies alike. Pieces of nature cleared to make the works serve as ritual sacrifices, while transfiguration is dually offered and unattainable via wine in vessels made of raw clay.Each altar carries a prayer coded in its title, conjured in your own recitation.
Alterada Esparciéndose (Los Nubes Que Quedan Esperan), 2023
Nubes Rayadas, 2023
Stripped cedar branches, wire, white clay slip
Umécuaro, Michoacan, MX
Companion piece to Alterada Esparciéndose
Alterada Alta (Escalera Hasta Cuando), 2023
Stolen fence branches, wood posts, barbed wire
Umécuaro (Morelia), MIchoacan, MX
Inspired by the barbed wire fences marking property lines throughout Umécuaro, Alterada Alta is a fence meant to be climbed and an altar dedicated to escapes.
te dejo con salmos y tierra, and promises not forgotten you know, the full story
the lingering feeling of yet and again
espero que la libertad sí te alcance
todavía
the lingering feeling of yet and again
espero que la libertad sí te alcance
todavía
Alterada Baja (Raíces Para Que Cuentes), 2023
ready-made altar and dirt
and the shutter snapped the moment
the vessel collapsed
uno se fue y uno quedo
Alterada Sobreviviente (Exaltado en la Estela), 2023
Tree split by lightning, carved ashes, peeled bark, & river stones
Tree split by lightning, carved ashes, peeled bark, & river stones
Alterada Enmarcado (Protegido en Arcilla para Entrar), 2023
Rusted window frame, brick gate
Alterada en Piezas (Cambio Constante), 2023
Carved stones, waterfall
Umécuaro (Morelia), MIchoacan, MX
Cruz Alterada (Ella Reza El Salmo 91 Todos Los Días)
Barbed wire, found steel, woven cedar barks, cut flowers, raw clay vessel with wine, window mesh, joint compound, ceramic plate holding a moth that I saw die the first night I arrived