Material Spirituality

"Through the processes of Intaglio and Chine-Colle, my pieces express a memory fragment of my four younger sisters who live in a female-led, Hispanic, matriarchial family. Our childhoods are all rooted in Mexican and indigenous heritage shown to us by our grandmother. The pieces depict a moment when they were gardening with my grandmother. We all refer to my grandmother as "Mom," reclaiming this as our redefining of age, linguistics, and ownership of this American slang term for mothers. At the core of these pieces, I express my love for my sisters and the perspective of a women-led household" (Savannah Flores).

Bella is an Intaglio art piece involving aquatint, etching, and Chine-Colle processes to tie sisterly love and nature together. It's a window of time reflecting on a day my sisters and I were gardening on our front lawn. The print has several layers of hand-dyed Chine-Colle to add texture and color. Adding line and color was necessary to emulate my and my sister's experience with the land/nature. The piece also presents how memories, history, genealogy, and matriarchy are inherently tied to nature. Bella is an homage to my sister and our precious memories with nature.