“I suggest that after standing outside the picture plane and constructing our ‘objective’ formal, iconographic, and contextual analyses, we bring our bodies ‘into’ the picture. Through attending to our bodily sensations, we can expand our ability to theorize the intention, interpretation, and reception of works of art. This trans-disciplinary approach provides us rich resources from which to loosen the canon, discipline, and field of art history from its current moorings and reframe it within an expanded and more inclusive paradigm.”

(Leimer, 2005)

        

     My current body of work reconnects everyday life to the sacred as an act of nonviolent, socio-political resistance.  My area of meditative research involves discovery and release of feminine traumas and spiritual moments inspired by a healing sisterhood of indigenous ceremonies and practices, ancient symbols, and concepts of meditation. I have adapted and recreated representations of canvas from ojos de dios³ or god’s eyes; an ancient and contemporary practice. The Wixáritari’ people call their god's eyes sikuli, meaning to see and understand things unknown.³ When I transform my canvas into sikuli, by shifting the position of the canvas, I call upon the ancient memory of the viewer; a design that acts as a mirror to the soul. 

 

       I am Xicana, an indigenous identified woman of Otomí, Taíno and Spanish ancestry, born and raised in East Los Angeles.  At 18, my life was altered by tragedy, and I have since been a rape survivor.   My wounded spirit embraced art making and entered my first Native American inipi- beginning a life journey of healing through these ancient sacred spiritual disciplines.  I formally pursue my work, bringing my body into the picture,¹ to visually translate, document and reinterpret the history of my ancestors through a personal, contemporary context.  The bell shape symbol 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 or community).²  Employing these symbols, I recall the sacred essence within the female and inipi, a ceremonial interpretation of mother earth womb.  Visually these symbols speak of the need for community healing ceremonies and practices.

Ancient Mixtec glyphs from the picture book of Zouche-Nuttall.

     When I compared the tepetl symbol to the basic skeletal structure of the inipi, I was inspired by similarities in shape and historical function with respect to spiritual community.  After 1615, the tepetl symbol almost disappears entirely from maps and there is reason to believe that missionaries censored the glyph to assist in the spiritual conquest of Mesoamerica.²  

    

     Traditional inipi's are not usually done nude.  A towel or a pair of shorts is more appropriate for a traditional sweat and my personal experiences with the sweat lodges have been traditional.  Since flesh and blood is all that we truly "own,"  the "lodge" figures in my work are nude to represent the purity and vulnerability of spirit in humble conversation with the great mystery. 

 

One Story about the origins of lodge:
http/www.indigenouspeople.net/sweatlod.htm 

1.  Leimer, Ann Marie.  (May 2005), Performing the Sacred: The Concept of Journey in Codex
     Delila. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of  Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin
     TX.

2.  Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel, (2006), Handbook to Life in the Aztec World.  Facts on File, Inc., NY.

3.  Dolphin, Lambert T. (2002), Ojo de Dios: The Era of the Web Cam. Source:
     http://www.ldolphin.org/eye.html

Concerning the deaths in
Sedona Sweat Lodge

By Arvol Looking Horse
Story Published: Oct 16, 2009

click here to read full article

     The ojo de dios is a simple weaving made across two sticks and is thought to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit. The Huichol or ‘Wixáritari’ people call their god's eyes sikuli, which means "the power to see and understand things unknown." Hung in a child's hair or on the walls of homes, or tied to the ends of arrows, the Sikuli's main purpose is to ensure children a long and healthy life. When a child is born, the central eye is woven by the father. Then one eye is added for every year of the child's life until the youngster reaches the age of five. The resulting design is the shape of a cross that symbolizes the four elements of earth, air, fire and water.

     The  ‘Wixáritari’ believe the design of the Sikuli has the power to heal and to protect. The Sikuli is hung on the wall and used in ceremonies and prayer. The colours used have different meanings: RED - life itself; YELLOW - sun moon & stars; BLUE - sky & water; BROWN - soil; GREEN - vegetation; BLACK - death. They can also be used as good luck symbols. Only two other places in the world (besides the ‘Wixáritari’ in Mexico) are said to weave them, Chile and Tibet.

Dolphin, Lambert T. (2002). Ojo de Dios: The Era of the Web Cam. Source:
     http://www.ldolphin.org/eye.html

    "As a child, making spirals on walls and ojos de dios from Popsicle-sticks and yarn in school provided me with feelings of peace and protection. 

     In this process, I have increased my self discipline for transforming emotive and spiritual imaginations into material art, especially when faced with the challenge of expressing my aesthetic and working with concepts of healing through art meditation, sisterhood and self-realization."

-Quica