Community Project
Identidad Geológica – Comunidad de Bajos de Chila
I am interested in the land’s history and the idea of the land in this part of the Oaxaca coast, investigating how it is and how local communities can be seen in different ways through art. The area’s particular geological identity as change and transformation in its tectonic plates also catches my attention, as memories of time and space; Do they approach or move away? Do they separate or come together? With this particular background of time, fragmentation, and metamorphosis. What is the sound of the earth in relation to the sound of these people’s language?
Examining seismographic data of the geographical activity in Oaxaca is the basis for my project at the Casa Wabi residence. This will involve young people from the nearby Bajo de Chia community that will result in two working groups. With the first one, I will record the names and voices of these people reciting certain words in Zapotec and Chatino language, using a recorder that visualizes the sound through wave patterns and translates them into a graphic. Then I will involve more young people to look for remains of pre-Hispanic pottery, which is commonly found along the riverbank that crosses the community, transforming the image of these wave frequencies into the ceramic fragments, which will eventually return to the earth. The second part of the project will involve the use of seismographic graphics of the area in combination with the sound frequency patterns of the indigenous languages. Working with local artisans, I will have the two ways woven into a long tapestry, these patterns will hold other patterns, hidden in a culture that could decode.
In the end, I hope that together with the group, we can think about our relationship with the land, our standing in different ways to open our thinking towards technology, culture, and the future.
I am interested in the land’s history and the idea of the land in this part of the Oaxaca coast, investigating how it is and how local communities can be seen in different ways through art. The area’s particular geological identity as change and transformation in its tectonic plates also catches my attention, as memories of time and space; Do they approach or move away? Do they separate or come together? With this particular background of time, fragmentation, and metamorphosis. What is the sound of the earth in relation to the sound of these people’s language?
Examining seismographic data of the geographical activity in Oaxaca is the basis for my project at the Casa Wabi residence. This will involve young people from the nearby Bajo de Chia community that will result in two working groups. With the first one, I will record the names and voices of these people reciting certain words in Zapotec and Chatino language, using a recorder that visualizes the sound through wave patterns and translates them into a graphic. Then I will involve more young people to look for remains of pre-Hispanic pottery, which is commonly found along the riverbank that crosses the community, transforming the image of these wave frequencies into the ceramic fragments, which will eventually return to the earth. The second part of the project will involve the use of seismographic graphics of the area in combination with the sound frequency patterns of the indigenous languages. Working with local artisans, I will have the two ways woven into a long tapestry, these patterns will hold other patterns, hidden in a culture that could decode.
In the end, I hope that together with the group, we can think about our relationship with the land, our standing in different ways to open our thinking towards technology, culture, and the future.
