Performative memory is defined as a “means through with societies remember.” Household day to day tasks, routines, rituals, consumption practices, and use of space within the home are all forms of performative memory. Focusing on home labor, specifically through the lens of laundry practices, this exhibition expands on my immigrant experience to comment on issues of displacement and explores the tie between scent, home, and belonging.
Monterey Museum of Art 2021
Etching collage on Beva-Tex
10x6 ft.
“Agotada” explores laundry practices in Guatemala, where I am originally from. In Guatemala, everything is washed by hand, outside, out of sight, often by a domestic worker, in a sink called a pila, using round bright orange balls of soap. Doing laundry is cold, hard, manual labor that never ends. There is a very specific scent to these soaps (Ambar brand was used in my home) and it is deeply embedded in my memory. "Agotada” consists of hundreds of etchings of these soap shapes, in various stages of use, composed into an overflowing pile.
Etching collage on Beva-tex, digital print
10x6 ft.
Etching collage on Beva-tex
10x6 ft.
Etching collage on Beva-tex
10x6 ft.
Monterey Museum of Art 2021
Hand embroidery on cotton muslin
55x63 in.
Life-size hand embroidery on cotton muslin of a “pila,” the sink used to hand wash clothes in Guatemala. The repetition of small stitches used in this hand embroidery echoes the repetitive labor required in Guatemalan home maintenance in general and laundry practices in particular. It is created on muslin, with the reverse side exposed, bringing attention to the hidden household labor.
Hand embroidery on cotton muslin
55x63 in.
Concrete, plastic, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete castings of Ambar brand soaps, and a small plastic basin or “guacal,” a multi-use object present in every Guatemalan home and a central tool in cleaning and laundering routines.
Concrete, plastic, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete, plastic, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete
Variable dimensions
Concrete
Variable dimensions
Concrete
Variable dimensions
Concrete
Variable dimensions
Concrete, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions
Concrete, plastic
Variable dimensions
Concrete, plastic, Ambar brand soap
Variable dimensions