Some patterns

the only lines on this map are rivers

A map of the world without borders, a meditation on colonialism and our visual construction of the world. I started wondering what the psychological effects of viewing political maps all the time might be having upon our world view. So here are some modest musings on looking at the world as geographic body and working ecosystem as opposed to a series of nations. To subtly question the obvious, what does our economic system do to our world view? How does the greed inherent in global trade distort our vision of what the world is worth?

corset, anyone?

I made this block print after a tree I had seen in Montes Azules, Chiapas, one day as we picked peppers and tomatoes and bananas in the milpa. I thought it looked like a woman raising her hands to the sky. That same night in the community my presence made it impossible for domestic violence to take place in the house of a friend. I don't give myself any credit for this, it simply happened that I was able to intervene.

This corset I made as a very indirect response to the issue of domestic violence, something which occurs in the physical, mental and psychological domains and occurs as a result of the rampant sexism of our country and larger world.

While this corset structure acts not to restrict a woman's stomach nor breathing, it does make her invisible from the waist up. This is illustrative of the difficulties feminism faces in making societal and systemic changes - since feminism and its intersections are up against a sexism and other -isms so embedded into societal structure, a step in one direction can end up creating new obstacles.

by the way, i think corsets are sexy. ain´t got no beef with them. my beef is with classist, racist and prude feminisms, the police, and cluster bombs. among other things.

droits face à la police