2015

Mexican artists in residence

Mario Castellanos

Mario is a metal worker from Oaxaca. He works with traditional forging techniques. He is interested in the tactile qualities of his material - taking a hard cold piece of metal - bringing it to life by softening it with heat and hands - then moulding it into organic forms.

While in the UK, Mario worked at Smith Whinney Designs in Banbury, where he was able to use the forge to make his sculptures. He also did a week at the Lockbund Foundry, where he learnt to mould and bronze and bees wax. 

Sofia Galindo

The ecology of body‐based performance: materiality, environmental perception and space‐ production.

Sofia is inspired by the experience of food in relation to the body. As a dancer she is interested in exploring the physiological and ecological qualities of food by working with notions of materiality and contemplation. Elements such as fluidity, texture, contraction and expansion are exploredas stimuli for the moving/sensing body.

Jesus Gonzalez Gutierrez

Jesus works with a traditional mexican form of fresco painitng, which he learnt from the assistant of the famous mural painter, Diego Rivera. 

For his work Jesus only uses natural materials: water, aged lime, clean sand and mineral pigments. He also uses prehispanic tools, including obsidiane stones and cactus thorns (maguey).

 

Marcos Hiram Rojas Sosa

Marcos aims to provoke discussion about the impact that technology has on our methods of production by using an artistic approach to data visualisation throug analog generated graphics. 

While with the First Food Residency he made images using chromatography to study te chemical composition of soil. Using soils from different environments, he explored the relationship between rural and urban spaces, contemplating the periphary and diffuse of the city. 

Israel de la Paz

Israel is developing visual writing based on motifs of repetition. These motifs are taken from nature and include images of cows and bees as well as more abstract structures such as dry stone walling and honeycomb.

He uses stamps and stencils as an alphabet in order to put together a story of the daily life round him. 

Polina Porras Sivolobov

During the residency Polina used drawing, mixed media and performance to explore the sorts of strange behaviour that manifests in social etiquette- particulalry around the sharing of food. 

www.polinaporras.com

Roque Reyes Mendoza

"I am interested in themes related to different methods of food production, something I have learned at great deal about working with farmers in rural Oaxaca, their knowledge and practices are essential, as we depend upon healthy and nutrient-rich products for our livelihood, something that transcends nationalities, tastes and even art. Furthermore, for me, it is very important to maintain efforts that contribute to the rescue of native seeds and local foods. 

For my project, I decided to prepare a food offering, as these types of actions and acknowledgments are an important part of my own culture in Oaxaca. By offering foods that have been harvested on earth, that are a part of the earth, it is a way of giving thanks to all the forces involved in their creation, and at the same time requesting future healthy harvests, something that plays a significant role in the lives of many Oaxacan people."