Mujer Enterrada: Something Happened Here is a collaborative multi-media installation created for Centro Cultural Aztlan, San Antonio’s 40-year-old Chicano/a arts and cultural center, in celebration of their yearly exhibition to explore the cultural implications (historical and contemporary) of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2nd, 1848. This year (2017) the staff and curator have worked to highlight the treaty’s impact on women (again, historical and contemporary), naming this year’s show Mujeres de Aztlan y El Segundo de Febrero.

After an informational gathering of selected artists (lead by Cultural Anthropologist, Dr. Citlali Maria Zentella) three of the invited artists decided to collaborate on an installation, Laurie Dietrich (ritualist and theatre artist), Amber Ortega-Perez (movement artist), and Dörte Weber (structural weaver and fiber artist). I was brought in to assist on the short movie they wanted to have playing on a loop within the defined space of the installation. I also took it up myself to suggest (and later construct) the manner in which the film would be presented. I decided to place a television set on the ground, tilted up for viewers to look down at the screen. The front portion of the TV was encased in foam insulation, painted to match the dirt spread on the floor around it. Laurie provided photographs and a poem, as well as helped to give shape to the whole piece. Amber created choreography for the dance in the film, which she also performed.  Dörte brought in some of her fiber panels (constructed out of woven plastic bags) which featured earlier in her installation at the border fence in the Rio Grande Valley.

Above is a short promotional teaser I created for the show. And beneath the photos of the installation below is a link to the full video which played in the gallery.