vasijas para sembrar duelos / vessels for sowing grief
Barcelona, Cataluña, España | en proceso
En colaboración con Andi Icaza(residente La Escocesa 2023-presente). Becas de Investigación Artística Barcelona Crea para residentes.
Un proyecto de investigación fundamentado en la colaboración, amasando los suelos que cargamos, los suelos que nos cargan, y los duelos que nos ayudan a navegar sus porosidades. Al aprovechar el potencial vital del vacío dentro de la porosidad como metodología, esta exploración inyecta ideas de continuidad y ciclos en dualidades como vida-muerte, ausencia-presencia y suelo-cielo, desplazándose de la oposición hacia la relación.
El proyecto aborda el duelo en múltiples escalas, reconociendo que el dolor trasciende lo individual y se manifiesta en dimensiones colectivas, locales y globales. Considera el duelo personal como la experiencia de una ausencia presente y la búsqueda de sentido a través de rituales y memorias tanto individuales como colectivas. Reflexiona sobre los duelos incrustados en el imaginario de países marcados por el conflicto armado, la violencia y represión estatal, el desplazamiento forzado y el desmantelamiento intencionado de las estructuras sociales y cotidianas—realidades que además complican la idea de retorno para quienes están lejos. Contempla también el duelo por el desarraigo provocado por migraciones económicas, políticas o ambientales—por ese territorio físico que resguarda nuestras memorias personales y colectivas.
Piensa el duelo de la Tierra en un sentido amplio, vinculado a la emergencia climática y a los cambios radicales que esta crisis conlleva. Aquí, el duelo no se refiere únicamente a la pérdida humana, sino también a la transformación acelerada de los ecosistemas, la ruptura de equilibrios naturales y la modificación de paisajes que han sostenido tanto la vida humana como la más-que-humana. Este duelo se vive a diario—en los cambios del clima, en los patrones agrícolas, en el acceso al agua y en la constante incertidumbre sobre el porvenir.
Conceptualmente, el proyecto se arraiga en la expresión coloquial “sembrar muertos”, utilizada para referirse a enterrar a los difuntos. Es una frase cargada de sentido sobre la conexión entre muerte, tierra y ritual, especialmente en contextos rurales. La segunda base del proyecto es la investigación de Kevin Gonzales Hodgson sobre la iconografía de urnas funerarias Chorotega y Nicarao en Villa Tiscapa, Managua. Este sitio, con su relieve escarpado y fertilidad variable de sus suelos, forma parte de la cuenca volcánica del graben de Managua. Está impregnado de una historia funeraria prehispánica que entiende la muerte como parte de un ciclo vital continuo, en un paisaje sujeto a un cambio ambiental constante—terremotos, erupciones, tormentas y sequías.
La metodología de vasijas para sembrar duelo se despliega en varias fases, integrando aproximaciones teóricas y prácticas, exploraciones territoriales y talleres colectivos. El proceso se sustenta en la investigación experimental y la creación colectiva, utilizando la cerámica como medio para explorar la relación entre duelo, territorio y memoria. A través de una investigación material y simbólica realizada en Nicaragua y Barcelona, el proyecto busca conectar tradiciones precoloniales con los desafíos contemporáneos de la pérdida y la regeneración.
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | ongoing
In collaboration with Andi Icaza (resident at La Escocesa 2023–present). Barcelona Crea Artistic Research Grants for residents.
A research project grounded in collaboration, kneading the soils we carry, the soils that carry us, and the grieving that help us navigate their porosities. By harnessing the life-giving potential of emptiness within porousness as a methodology, this exploration injects ideas of continuity and cycles into dualities such as life-death, absence-presence, and ground-sky, shifting away from opposition.
The project approaches mourning across multiple scales, recognising that grief transcends the individual and manifests in collective, local, and global dimensions. It considers personal grief as the experience of a present absence, and the search for meaning through individual and collective rituals and memory. It reflects on the mourning embedded in the imaginary of countries marked by armed conflict, state violence and repression, forced displacement, and the intentional dismantling of social and everyday structures—realities that also complicate the idea of return for those who are away. It contemplates the grief of uprootedness caused by economic, political, or environmental migration—for the physical territory that holds our personal and collective memories.
It thinks of the Earth’s mourning in a broader sense, linked to the climate emergency and the radical changes this crisis brings. Here, grief is not only about human loss but also about the accelerated transformation of ecosystems, the breakdown of natural balances, and the transformation of landscapes that have sustained both human and more-than-human life. This grief is lived daily—through shifts in climate, in agricultural patterns, in access to water, and in the constant uncertainty about the future.
Conceptually, the project is rooted in the colloquial expression “sembrar muertos”—literally “to sow the dead”—used to refer to burying the dead. It’s a phrase laden with meaning about the connection between death, land, and ritual, especially in rural contexts. The second foundation is Kevin Gonzales Hodgson’s research on the iconography of Chorotega and Nicarao funerary urns in Villa Tiscapa, Managua. This site, with its rugged terrain and variable soil fertility, is part of the volcanic basin of the Managua Graben. It is steeped in pre-Hispanic funerary history that understands death as part of an ongoing life cycle, set against a landscape in constant environmental flux—earthquakes, eruptions, storms, and droughts.
The methodology of vessels for sowing grief unfolds across several phases, integrating theoretical and practical approaches, territorial explorations, and collective workshops. The process is rooted in experimental research and collective creation, using ceramics as a medium to explore the relationship between grief, land, and memory. Through material and symbolic research conducted in Nicaragua and Barcelona, the project seeks to connect precolonial traditions with the contemporary challenges of loss and regeneration.
A research project grounded in collaboration, kneading the soils we carry, the soils that carry us, and the grieving that help us navigate their porosities. By harnessing the life-giving potential of emptiness within porousness as a methodology, this exploration injects ideas of continuity and cycles into dualities such as life-death, absence-presence, and ground-sky, shifting away from opposition.
The project approaches mourning across multiple scales, recognising that grief transcends the individual and manifests in collective, local, and global dimensions. It considers personal grief as the experience of a present absence, and the search for meaning through individual and collective rituals and memory. It reflects on the mourning embedded in the imaginary of countries marked by armed conflict, state violence and repression, forced displacement, and the intentional dismantling of social and everyday structures—realities that also complicate the idea of return for those who are away. It contemplates the grief of uprootedness caused by economic, political, or environmental migration—for the physical territory that holds our personal and collective memories.
It thinks of the Earth’s mourning in a broader sense, linked to the climate emergency and the radical changes this crisis brings. Here, grief is not only about human loss but also about the accelerated transformation of ecosystems, the breakdown of natural balances, and the transformation of landscapes that have sustained both human and more-than-human life. This grief is lived daily—through shifts in climate, in agricultural patterns, in access to water, and in the constant uncertainty about the future.
Conceptually, the project is rooted in the colloquial expression “sembrar muertos”—literally “to sow the dead”—used to refer to burying the dead. It’s a phrase laden with meaning about the connection between death, land, and ritual, especially in rural contexts. The second foundation is Kevin Gonzales Hodgson’s research on the iconography of Chorotega and Nicarao funerary urns in Villa Tiscapa, Managua. This site, with its rugged terrain and variable soil fertility, is part of the volcanic basin of the Managua Graben. It is steeped in pre-Hispanic funerary history that understands death as part of an ongoing life cycle, set against a landscape in constant environmental flux—earthquakes, eruptions, storms, and droughts.
The methodology of vessels for sowing grief unfolds across several phases, integrating theoretical and practical approaches, territorial explorations, and collective workshops. The process is rooted in experimental research and collective creation, using ceramics as a medium to explore the relationship between grief, land, and memory. Through material and symbolic research conducted in Nicaragua and Barcelona, the project seeks to connect precolonial traditions with the contemporary challenges of loss and regeneration.