“Fuerza ancestral” por Xánath Caraza

“Fuerza ancestral” por Xánath Caraza

 

El 23 de abril celebraremos el Día Internacional del Libro. Para este 2025 me gustaría compartir un poema titulado “Fuerza ancestral” que fue originalmente publicado en mi poemario trilingüe Conjuro (Mammoth Publications, 2012) y en 2019 fue incluido en la antología Voices from the Ancestors: Xicanx and Latinx Spiritual Expressions and Healing Practices (University of Arizona Press, 2019) editado por Lara Median y Martha R. Gonzales.

 

En 2023 la Dra. Charlene Villaseñor Black, chair of the César Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and Professor of art history and Chicana/o studies, comentó en la publicación “Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month 2023: Read, Watch, Listen”, de UCLA, lo siguiente para mi poema.

 

Muchas gracias y espero, queridos lectores de la Bloga, que disfruten “Fuerza ancestral”.

 

Fuerza ancestral por Xánath Caraza

 

Fuerza de mujer:

delicada

que fluye en aguas rojas

pensamientos concéntricos

fuerza que renace

se enreda en las copas de los árboles

Cihuacoatl

 

Fuerza creadora que canta

que despierta

que guía entre el oscuro laberinto

que susurra al oído el camino extraviado

que invita a vivir

Tonantzin

 

Latidos de obsidiana

de fuerza incandescente

de humo azul

corazón de piedra verde

frente a ti están

otras vibraciones femeninas

Yoloxóchitl

 

Fuerza de mujer que fluye

entre las páginas

de poemas extraviados

de signos olvidados

entre galerías

de imágenes grabadas

poesía tatuada en la piel

Xochipilli

 

Corazón enardecido

que explota

respira

siente

vive

Tlazoteotl

 

Montañas de malaquita

áureo torrente matutino

que recorre los surcos

del cuerpo

Coatlicue

 

Fuerza femenina ancestral

sobre papel amate

que se entrega

a los intrínsecos diseños

de las frases dibujadas

Coyolxauqui

 

Pensamiento de jade

que se evapora con la luna

que se integra a los caudalosos blancos ríos

Tonantzin

 

Fuerza de mujer:

del lejos y cerca

de arriba y abajo

del dentro y de fuera

de ciclo eterno

fuerza dual

de cielo de granate

 

Cihuacoatl, Tonantzin

Yoloxóchitl, Xochipilli

Tlazoteotl, Coatlicue

Coyolxauqui

 

Guirnaldas de flores blancas las celebran

plumas de quetzal adornan las cabelleras

las abuelas creadoras cantan

al unísono en esta tierra

 

Fuerza femenina, ancestral

 

 

Xanath Caraza

LACMA’s Innovative and Powerful “HOME” Exhibit Breaks Boundaries and Hearts

“The House America Built”

By Daniel Joseph Martinez

By Daniel A. Olivas

I recently had the opportunity as a member of the press (on behalf of La Bloga) to attend a preview of a truly innovative and powerful new art exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) titled, “HOME — So Different, So Appealing.”

This exhibition was organized by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, LACMA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, which is certainly, to use the words of LACMA, “a far reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin America and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles.”

From left to right:
Mari Carmen Ramírez (Latin American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston);
Chon A. Noriega (UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center);
Pilar Tompkins Rivas (Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College)

This is LACMA’s official description of this new installation:

“Organized in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, HOME — So Different, So Appealing features U.S. Latino and Latin American artists from the late 1950s to the present who have used the deceptively simple idea of 'home' as a powerful lens through which to view the profound socioeconomic and political transformations in the hemisphere. Spanning seven decades and covering art styles from Pop Art and Conceptualism to ‘anarchitecture’ and ‘autoconstrucción,’ the artists featured in this show explore one of the most basic social concepts by which individuals, families, nations, and regions understand themselves in relation to others. In the process, their work also offers an alternative narrative of postwar and contemporary art.”

The exhibit includes over 100 works by well-established artists such as Salomón Huerta, Doris Salcedo, and Guillermo Kuitca. It also includes younger emerging artists such as Carmen Argote and Camilo Ontiveros.

I am not an art critic and I certainly do not have the appropriate vocabulary and experience to adequately review this exhibit in the manner that Carolina A. Miranda of the Los Angeles Times did in this recent review. All I can offer are a few thoughts as someone who grew up in a household that appreciated and honored Latinx art.

As I walked from room to room and spent time with the various works, I found myself feeling quite moved. One of the aspects I found so compelling was the artists’ use of everyday images and structures to express an ambivalent connection to what we call “home.” This ambivalence arises from the often heartbreaking and perhaps irreconcilable circumstances created by the crucibles of poverty, bigotry and/or the Latinx diaspora. Here are some of the works that I saw:

“Untitled” (North)

By Felix Gonzalez-Torres

“Temporary Storage: The Belongings of Juan Manuel Montes”

By Camilo Ontiveros

“Untitled House”

By Salomón Huerta

Photograph of one of the exhibit rooms.

Buenos Aires Polyptych

By Juliana Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha

Juanito Goes to the City

By Anonio Berni

I had the opportunity to speak with one of the artists, Carmen Argote (pictured immediately below), whose work is titled “720 Sq. Ft. Household Mutations” and consists of the actual carpet torn from her childhood home. It contains every mark and stain that is part of her family’s story and history. Of course, her family’s collective lives amount to more than this bit of carpet, but it was the stage for her family’s struggles as well as joyous occasions. She marveled at how small it looked as displayed in the gallery space.

In any event, I strongly commend this innovative and powerful exhibit to you. The few photographs I share here cannot fully capture the depth, intelligence, and heart that you will experience in person. The exhibit started its run on June 11 and will continue to October 15, 2017.

For further information on this and other LACMA exhibits, please visit LACMA's website. LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.