Unweaving Foundations intends to bring attention to Feminicide, the most extreme result of gender violence, which culminates in the death of a woman or a girl. The artwork also questions the high rates of these cases that increase year by year in Mexico.

 

The woven materials used in this piece are rebozos, which are shawls from Mexico used predominantly by women. This garment has close connection with death, as it was used as a shroud, as well as to indicate grief. The thought behind unraveling the rebozos comes from pondering on how one death affects deeply the interactions of Mexican families. So, looking at the rebozo as Mexico’s infrastructure, the cutting and pulling away of threads in a repetitive manner, represent the murders and how this constant violence weakens the whole structure. The States represented are Estado de Mexico, Veracruz, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Jalisco, the ones with the highest rates of feminicide in 2018.

​

Another element present in Unweaving Foundations is Copal, an incense used since pre-Columbian times, which is infused into the shawls. Copal is used for cleansing spaces during festivities and ceremonies in Mexico. The inclusion of the aromatic component aims to cleanse the space of the gallery from all the violence that the piece represents, in a way to heal or soothe the wounds provoked by femicide.