The Matriarchs and 1687 were artworks created in response to artwork from the Palmer Museum for a collaboration I initiated between SOVA BIPOC students and the museum. The two artworks I chose to develop are a response to Carrie Mae Weems's Kitchen Table Series Solitaire and Matika Wilbur's Dr. Mary portraits. While Carrie Mae Weems and Matika Wilbur come from different communities, both works encourage conversation around marginalized experiences, specifically the roles of women. Regardless of the environment, both women in each work show their presence. I chose the two artworks to center the focus on Black and Brown women and to highlight the resilience in our BIPOC communities. From the intimate environments and moments Weems depicts, to Wilbur's elder embracing open space ahead of her. The cyanotypes have only been exhibited for one night at the museum. In the current political landscape as artists of color, it is important to focus on solidarity. We are stronger as a community and I view the cyanotypes as an act of resistance to show that our histories and our cultures will not be erased.
The Matriarchs: The image focuses on the women from my maternal side of the family. For the first time in many years, my grandmother was reunited with her sisters in Texas. These women were carriers of knowledge and I have been actively interviewing family members since 2020 to uncover what was lost. Curanderismo was something my grandmother practiced and is my family's connection to preserving our culture. The original image was taken on a film camera by my mother.
This cyanotype is an altered print of my family’s oldest descendant. Philippa Mendez was baptized on the 4th of June 1687 in Charcas, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, once known as a Native and African slave mining town. This ancestor is part of my maternal great-grandmother’s side of the family. I was able to trace my family's ancestry as far back as the 1600s. My maternal great-grandfather also holds a strong indigenous lineage. Both families survived the caste system. Due to the caste system established in Mexico, the community to which my family belongs is not listed in the documents.