66 hours in 66 seconds
66 hours, in collaboration with Yátzil Ikal Uc In 2017 the middle part of my body turned into space: a temporary place for a growing seed which provoked the creation of exclusive components for the beginning of any life (without…
66 hours, in collaboration with Yátzil Ikal Uc
In 2017 the middle part of my body turned into space: a temporary place for a growing seed which provoked the creation of exclusive components for the beginning of any life (without light). For nine months of transition I had to drink a gallon of water per day to nourish a Mayan descendant and support the expansion of its ephemeral environment. When Yátzil Ikal accomplished its development, she needed to migrate towards a space in another dimension, passing through a never-ending short journey, facing to her first border in the planet earth: my cervix.
My body stopped being a space for generating life and became a transport. The ritual of transforming into mother was leaded by a painful wait. This ended when my vagina turned into a crown of the top of her head, then the light wrapped her and the beginning started.
66 hours in collaboration with Yátzil Ikal Uc is a three-channel videomicrographic installation. I filmed with material that my body produced while and after giving birth: amniotic fluid, meconium, fresh placenta, dehydrated placenta, breastmilk and spit, using a video camera attached to a microscope to render the material at a more intimate dimension. The audio includes a bilingual story taken from the experience of conception, labor and delivery. Recorded sounds weave through the voice track: breastfeeding, breathing, lullabies, doctors, nurses, my mom, heart beats inside the womb, and a cathartic act performed in the ocean. With this work, I address the power of becoming a mother, and the relationship between the act of giving birth-being born and the origin of the universe.