SARF2024

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"Moctezumas Ixtapan Fountain"
  • Moctezumas Ixtapan Fountain
  • Brass, dyed cotton thread, wood serpent, jade stone, ironwood frog, stone frog, glass frog, Itxtapan spa hotel ashtray, Ixtapan spa hotel postcard
  • 84 x 96 x 48 inches
  • 2023
  • Moctezumas Ixtapan Fountain forms part of a larger installation titled Ixtapan. The work continues the body of work related to Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue, the two water dieties from the Aztec pantheon. The title of the exhibition derives from the Nahual words Ixta and pan, meaning place over salt. Moreover it also references an actual town in Mexico. Ixtapan de la Sal is known for its “healing waters,” the thermal mineral waters have been a source of tourism for their therapeutic benefits since the early 1940s. The main part of the exhibition is comprised of a series of thin rod brass sculptures bound by dyed thread and gathered tourist handcraft objects related to the dieties and water and arranged on the floor. Each of these sculptures in turn include an advertising postcard dating from the 1960s, depicting the elaborate light colorful fountains of one of the spa like hotels. In this way through the skewed prism of tourism the series of sculptures can be seen as fountains themselves embedded with spiritual and healing qualities.