Retrazos- work in process
The work on this page is specifically curated for the Solidarity Eco-Systems Seed Grant. Please do not share outside of your application committee.
The project is titled Retrazos, a body of work-in-process that uses photography, archival prints, digital collage, printmaking and mixed-media materials to tell the story of diasporican connection- rupture- reconnection to family history in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. The title Retrazos is a combination of Retazos (fragments) and Retraso (delay). The project is the art of sewing together fragments of stories being rediscovered over the delay of time and diasporic displacement.
Playa Sector 9- sublimated photographs of the artist onto hand cut wood, gold leaf. Based on the story my dad would tell of sliding on banana leaves at Playa Sector 9 on the edge of El Jagual. The new story ends with him reuniting and resting in the hands of his childhood waters.
Retazos Ancestrales- the title piece directing the creation of the body of work. Photograph sublimated on fabric, cut and reassembled. Hanging from the fabric are archival photos sublimated on hand cut wood with gold leaf.
Ensalmo Diaspórico- my photography and archival photos sublimated onto untreated muslin, camándula seeds and gold chain. A spell for diasporic reconnection to the island.
Study for untitled work. My plan is to photograph the entire Cementerio Municipal Viejo in San Lorenzo and label each grave marker with how they are related to me. I imagine this as a grounding piece that shows my relational ties to each person resting there and tells the story of the closeness and rich family history of the region.
Study for untitled work
Study for untitled work
Study for untitled work
Study for untitled work
Photograph used in title piece Retazos Ancestrales, taken at Playa Sector 9.