returned

La Ceiba Grafica, Vera Cruz, Mexico | April 2019

April 10, 2019. I am accepted into an artist residence in Vera Cruz, Mexico (La Ceiba Gráfica). I am aware of the history of the place—all materials are hand made—from the inks to the paper and the tools—I decide not to take a single material of my own and just let the experience dictate the path I’m going to take.

Walking into La Ceiba Grafica I looked down at my boots and I notice the floor of this historic hacienda looking back at me. The decorations of the floor tile speak to conquests and empires long gone. Of colonized people who after 500 years still feel the repercussions of being “discovered” and in the process our precolonial heritage erased. I start paying attention to human marks underfoot. I start hearing the narratives emanating from the echos of my own footsteps.