Maíz
Hoja de maíz, hoja, hoja de papel
What does one’s culture, heritage, and identity say about a person?
This work began after a recent experience when my documents were deemed invalid because they held my married name and not my given name when I first applied for a passport.
I would need a picture ID of me as a child to prove my name and identity. I was deeply hurt, in shock, and angered. It felt like erasure.
I began thinking about the validity of documents, the weight that a piece of paper has - that “papers” have - and the fact that they are simply paper.
I re-created my papers on something I valued - Maíz.
I made cyanotypes of my birth certificate, marriage license, and the only picture of me I have as a child on corn husks to give them the validity taken away from them. Shortly thereafter, I realized that the experience made me question my belonging and the idea of home, what home is, who has a right to dictate what home is, and who has a right to it. I thought about cultural identity and what home meant to me. Home is ultimately my mother and her cooking.
I then began making prints of specific, traditional herbs my mother uses in her cooking. These herbs are her story, her childhood, how she learned to cook, and her stories about cooking with them. That is home. The process made me reflect that as human beings, no matter where one is from, no matter where one is, the mere thought of our homeland's food - its aroma, its taste - will immediately transport one home. This is the heart and intent of this work. It gave me the validity I lost. It permitted me to feel whole again.
I believe it also gives others a voice; one through a humble corn husk.
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