Machete, Pando, Corbo, Cuma, Guarizama
Machete, Pando, Corbo, Cuma, Guarizama is an exploration of the nesses within my identity. My person resides within a space that is composed of Salvadoran-ness, Honduran-ness, and Estadounidense-ness, none being fully immersed and none being completely left out. The addition of these nesses inform my identity, however, the differences that exist between them make it difficult to exist within them. Machete, Pando, Corbo, Cuma, Guarizama is a ritual that calls the machete by its various names to invoke its spirit in order for it to answer the questions I ask, respond to the statements I make, and perform as it has been designed to perform. My dialogue in our conversation questions and validates the perception of the Salvadoran icon by recalling the personal, political, familial, and agricultural histories living within it. While speaking to the machete, we form a trace. The trace lives as a testimony of my conversation with the machete, pando, corbo, cuma, guarizama and the histories involved with its existence.
Performed for Project Row Houses’ Round 51: Local Impact II
Houston, TX
2020
performance, photography, sculpture, and audio
Alabama Song
Houston, TX
2018