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ABOUT
Formed by ceramic rectangles in two color families, this piece attempts to visualize windows into our isolated existence during the pandemic years while also suggesting that harmony can be achieved despite the isolation and the polarization along ideological and political fault lines.
In color theory, opposite colors (green & red, blue & orange) are also called complementary colors. When carelessly combined, they lose vibrancy and cancel each other out, producing a muddy brown or black. However, if viewed side-by-side, respecting boundaries and individuality, they increase each other's vibrancy.
In a visual metaphor of this color phenomenon, we seek to illustrate that differences can be embraced as complementary rather than adversary within the social mosaic.
The piece can be displayed as a whole, with both areas interlocking, or as two separate elements at variable distance from each other.
TLATOLI-DIÁLOGO
TLATOLI-DIÁLOGO
Created in collaboration with artist Mariana Rodriguez for the City of Raleigh Museum's Mexhibit exhibition
31.5" High x 39" Wide
Created in collaboration with artist Mariana Rodriguez for the City of Raleigh Museum's Mexhibit exhibition
31.5" High x 39" Wide
ABOUT
Tlatolli-Diálogo is an artistic collaboration with my fellow visual artist, medical interpreter and soul-mate Mariana Rodríguez.
Our shared Hispanic roots and common profession inspired us to join forces to create “Tlatolli-Diálogo” in order to visually convey the ties that can be established through communication. As interpreters we help to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between Hispanics and their new American communities. Working with immigrants at their most vulnerable, we witness first-hand both the fear and apprehension that arise from lack of communication and cultural dislocation, as well as the transformation that takes place when people start to understand each other and realize that what they have in common is much greater than their differences. Tlatolli is a term in Nahuatl (a Uto-Aztec language still spoken by 1.5 million people) meaning “conversation, dialogue or accord”. It was represented in pre-Hispanic codices and stone carvings by a speech-scroll symbol, similar in shape and function to the modern quotation mark or the speech-bubble. In Tlatolli-Diálogo, the profiles represent different ethnicities, age-groups and genders, while the blue/green spiral-shapes, inspired by the Nahuatl tlatolli symbol, indicate the idea of speech and communication between ethnicities and across cultures. The colors and composition suggest the harmony and integration that could be attained with meaningful dialogue as a catalyst. Getting to know each other as fellow humans eliminates the sense of threat and the fear of the unknown that lies at the root of prejudice
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