Raíces (Roots), 2017

kinetic papel picado sculpture: silkscreen on oilcloth
85 x 45 x 45 in.

I needed to re-photograph this work for an upcoming exhibit. I pondered this work months before when the original color I chose didn't feel right. The one day, something told me to paint this 7 foot object red on one side. My mother, who has a very good design sense, saw what I was doing and completely agreed with my choice. Then she tells me this amazing story of my maternal grandmother, pictured in the photo. In this 1946 wedding photograph, taken in Coyoacán, Mexico, my grandmother was on her moon (menses). It was the heaviest moon she had ever experienced in her life or since. It was so heavy that her best friend had to quickly clean a blood stain from her wedding gown just before her vows.  

Science tells us that the ovum, the egg that we all come from, was created in our grandmother’s womb. My choice to paint this object red after being moved to do so, tells the story and power of creation. Women hold this special power and connection to each other and across generations. There should be no shame in how our bodies bleed. We who bleed, give life, work, and love fiercely through time. Like my ancestors before me, I will work, love, and live in light and look through the shadows, sin miedo y con mucho corazón.