Chichis
Diana Soria Hernández
18 - 24.8.2021
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Opening 17.8 @ 17:00 - 18:30 As window exhibition from 18 - 24.8.2021 Open doors with the artist on the 21st & 22nd from 16:00 -18:00 This exhibition contains in a nutshell fragments of a personal decolonial process through breastfeeding pre-Columbian clay pots and huipiles (textiles), all in connection to the birth of my first and only child.
Chichis Chichis are like fruits, with ripe flesh, seeds and milk, juicy and voluptuous. The little and powerful mouth of the child, the sucking techniques, the teeth and saliva. The self-sufficient body, the intimacy, pain, exhaustion, and even death are contained in this word. Chichi is an adaptation into Spanish from the nahuatl root chichi- meaning to nurse. The slang word used among Mexican Spanish speakers refers to breasts and perhaps many do not know it’s root but its double ch-ch sound, reminds us of its nahuatl origin. As a very young woman the word chichis made me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. It was vulgar, too voluptuous and juicy and I couldn't relate it to my body. I avoided the word and preferred more normalised and anatomic words, such as senos or the anglicism boobs, these felt somehow neutral and tolerable. It was through breastfeeding that I experienced what chichis feel like. Hilariously contrary to what many imagine, while nursing on demand the voluptuousness of my small body and the pleasure of being self-sufficient liberated and empowered me from the neoliberal framings of the objectified and regulated body; and when this happened my breasts became chichis. In the pre-Columbian world, mammiform ceramics where very common, using breasts and nipples as decorations or legs. These pieces are built from breast from women who have breastfeed. |
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Huipiles
Abstract and geometrical representations of nature, story telling from other geographies, color combinations and wide cuts. Huipiles (loose fitting handmade textiles, generally made from two or three rectangular pieces of handwoven fabric) are contemporary clothings rooted in tradition, produced slowly and in small scale. Breastfeeding started a process of decolonizing myself and after I understood this I felt the need to continue decolonizing my personal aesthetics.
I remembered being an infant and looking at my mother’s clothes. She wore a skirt with tiny animals stitched in horizontal lines, the tiny red and brown scorpions caught my attention. Today I know that this textile was a Tacuate, making reference to the place where it was made.
In recent months my interest in the representation of basic elements, such as animals, plants, numbers, colours, has made me question how pedagogical western aesthetics function to build the symbolic world of children. These aesthetics will be rooted in our affects and are fundamental in how we perceive the world as adults. Thinking in the Tacuate skirt of my mother, I came to the conclusion that what I wear can have an impact in the way the world of my child comes together, and maybe also my surroundings.
I begun by educating myself about textiles produced by different nations located in the Mexican territory and decided to use part of my production budget to purchase textiles directly from craft women collectives though different social media platforms. My mother received them by post from different parts of Mexico and brought them to Finland by plane in early August.
Even though the Mexican State project of mestizaje succeeded in my personal history and I have lost the thread back to my ancestors and the languages they spoke, the pulse of my roots is still alive, it is undeniable in my affects, in my physiognomy, in the nostalgia of a territory. And as I build my way back to my origins, I will give roots to my child even far away from the physical territory I left.
There is possibility to purchase some textiles. The collected income will be used to purchase more textiles and support the production and preservation of this profession. Please contact me for more information even after the exhibition ([email protected]).
This exhibition has been possible thanks to Kone Foundation and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
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Abstract and geometrical representations of nature, story telling from other geographies, color combinations and wide cuts. Huipiles (loose fitting handmade textiles, generally made from two or three rectangular pieces of handwoven fabric) are contemporary clothings rooted in tradition, produced slowly and in small scale. Breastfeeding started a process of decolonizing myself and after I understood this I felt the need to continue decolonizing my personal aesthetics.
I remembered being an infant and looking at my mother’s clothes. She wore a skirt with tiny animals stitched in horizontal lines, the tiny red and brown scorpions caught my attention. Today I know that this textile was a Tacuate, making reference to the place where it was made.
In recent months my interest in the representation of basic elements, such as animals, plants, numbers, colours, has made me question how pedagogical western aesthetics function to build the symbolic world of children. These aesthetics will be rooted in our affects and are fundamental in how we perceive the world as adults. Thinking in the Tacuate skirt of my mother, I came to the conclusion that what I wear can have an impact in the way the world of my child comes together, and maybe also my surroundings.
I begun by educating myself about textiles produced by different nations located in the Mexican territory and decided to use part of my production budget to purchase textiles directly from craft women collectives though different social media platforms. My mother received them by post from different parts of Mexico and brought them to Finland by plane in early August.
Even though the Mexican State project of mestizaje succeeded in my personal history and I have lost the thread back to my ancestors and the languages they spoke, the pulse of my roots is still alive, it is undeniable in my affects, in my physiognomy, in the nostalgia of a territory. And as I build my way back to my origins, I will give roots to my child even far away from the physical territory I left.
There is possibility to purchase some textiles. The collected income will be used to purchase more textiles and support the production and preservation of this profession. Please contact me for more information even after the exhibition ([email protected]).
This exhibition has been possible thanks to Kone Foundation and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
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Diana Soria Hernández (México 1983) is a visual artist focused on counteracting hegemonic structures through the physical practice of her human scale, mainly with performance art, live installations and drawing. She studied her BA in Fine Arts at ENPEG La Esmeralda in Mexico City, an MFA in Printmaking by the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki and a MA in Live Art and Performance Studies at the Theatre Academy Helsinki, both belonging to the University of the Arts, Helsinki. Her work has been shown internationally in exhibitions and festivals. Her practice includes self-organised events as an effort to contextualize and expand views of Latin America in Finland. She has received working grants by Kone Foundation (2019-2020, 2017) and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (2018).
http://dianasoria.net/
http://dianasoria.net/
