900 Years of Persecution, from the 11th Century to the 19th Century

During the 900 years of Holy Inquisition in Europe and the Americas, it is estimated that nine million (9,000,000) women were burnt at the stake.

This work is part of my Reminiscences Series from 2003, with whcih I hoped to expand and explore reflections about human beings, men and woman, feminine and masculine, that resulted with my encounter with the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci. That artist’s anatomical drawings of female anatomical structure and the concept of femininity though visual expression throughout much of western history has shaped our on concepts, but I choose not to remain there but to, instead, expand.

All the work I print is on cotton paper containing other fince fibers are crafted by me with the assistance of three volunteer students who offered their help for my project, three young women with tremendous generosity and aptitude for learing. I will always remain grateful to them.

 

Migrants

To depart-to arrive. To come and go. Emigration- immigration.

The migratory movements, both in nature and in human group, have the same origin: living beings driven to search better conditions for their survival.

The migration of the Urania fulgens , in common language “Green Urania” (black butterfly-like moth, with iridescent green stripes) is caused by the periodic toxicity of the Omphalea, a bush that grows in humid, marshy lands near mangroves, food for the Urania´s larvae.

The Urania fulgens emigrates from time to time in a notorious manner: thousands of these diurnal moths travel from the Atlantic zone to the southwest of Costa Rica, through the Central Valley, in search of non-toxic Omphaleas. Months later, the ones that complete the cycle return. During that same period of time other Urania´s migration take place in different parts of the American continent.

We are oblivious to the fact that the natural cycle is broken by the traffic in our highways, where hundreds of these migrating moths crash against the vehicles.

I gather evidence , document the event, investigate on the subject, search for bibliography , take notes ; this experience motivates and precipitates itself on impressions on plates, printed as graphic images on a support , usually paper (some hand-made paper created by myself for this purpose). Present also are the digressions that the subject inspires and the attempt to make the invisible, visible, or to see it from the perspective of the “observed onlooker”.