Urban Release Ceremonies

This body of work represents a self-portrait that reconnects everyday life to the sacred as an act of nonviolent, socio-political resistance. My area of research involves the discovery and release of feminine traumas and spiritual moments inspired by a healing sisterhood of indigenous ceremonies and practices, ancient symbols, and concepts of creative meditation.

 At 18, my life was altered by trauma. My wounded spirit embraced art making and entered my first Native American inipi- beginning a life journey of healing that included ancient, sacred, spiritual disciplines. I formally pursue my work, 'bringing my body into the picture,' to visually translate, document and reinterpret the history of my ancestors through a personal, contemporary context. The bell shape symbol that appears in my work, represents the female womb or inipi and is a stylized version of a simplistic yet complex, Mesoamerican glyph called tepetl (sacred place).

 During this period of recovery, I mediated on creating a symbol that represents all that matters to me, the very things that I give thanks for every day: earth, air, fire, water and love. Employing these symbols, I recall the sacred essence within the female and inipi, a ceremonial interpretation of mother earth womb. The fusion of these symbols in my work speaks of the need for community healing ceremonies and practices.

Together with the support of family, community circles and my obsessive art healing practices and mediations, I was able to create these images in the form of a prayer to find the purpose and will to live again.