Mariana Castillo Deball investigates and recovers stories in her work that have not been told, were destroyed, or have not been fully understood. From this perspective, the artist has ventured into the field of Mexican archaeology to challenge established narratives, question nationalist s, and show the historical and socio-cultural mechanisms that run through this discipline. With this type of approach, she has explored, in her own words, the "margins" of archeology; that is, how it appears in public policies, the development of the city or the collective imagination, as well as the occluded and erased stories that inhabit it.
'Between You and the Image that Reaches Me' is made up of three pieces: a modular sculpture, a cut-out drawing, and a video. From the representation of the goddess Coatlicue and her unsuccessful matricide by the Coyolxauhqui, as well as from the myths turned into political and media spectacles, the artist offers an approach to the field of archaeological objects and the history of how they have been understood and exhibited over time, in an exercise that intertwines imagination and artistic practice with the mythology of the original peoples of Mexico, historiographic reflection, urban politics and the field of archaeology.
No Solid Form Can Contain You, 2010
Fiberglass
This piece consists of a modular reproduction, scale 1: 1, of the stone sculpture of the goddess Coatlicue that is in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. From one of the molds used to make reproductions of this monolith, Castillo Deball made a hybrid sculpture: a "positive" that nevertheless appears to be a new mold or "negative".
In numerous works, the artist has explored the notion of replica and what it entails. For example, the negotiations that exist between authenticity and forgeries, the trade and patrimonialization of original and false pieces, their use within identity and nationalist discourses, the creation of reproductions for exhibition and diplomatic purposes, as well as their circulation as images in mass culture and the popular imaginary. The fact that this copy of Coatlicue has been made of fiberglass with the ts facing outwards emphasizes its quality as a replica. At the same time, the fact that it is placed directly on the floor - either in parts or as a single piece - works as a deconstruction strategy for the archaeological artifact, that is, as an operation that seeks to dismantle the stone monolith.
The original Coatlicue sculpture was discovered near the Zócalo in Mexico City at the end of the 18th century and was one of the first Pre-Columbian pieces that was not destroyed by the colonial authorities, but exhibited publicly. However, since it began to generate worship and to receive offerings, it was removed and hidden for years. After the independence of Mexico, the monolith was again recovered, but now as an identity symbol of the nascent Mexican nation.
These events are just the beginning of a long story about how this Pre-Columbian sculpture has been used, displayed, occluded, reproduced and multiplied. As the academic Jennifer Josten points out, Castillo Deball's work evidences the occlusion of colonial history within the nationalist narrative and questions one of the great myths of the nation: the one that “supposes a direct continuity between the Pre-Columbian Aztec Empire and the modern Mexican State, for whose construction the Coatlicue and its multiple reproductions played a preponderant role for decades and even centuries.” The title of the piece, 'No Solid Form can Contain You', alludes precisely to this complex historical framework and the impossibility of apprehending it as a solid, stable and immutable form.
With this work, Castillo Deball shows that archaeological pieces are traversed by the notion of fetish: they are objects of desire that speak of the present, the past and the future, and that contain an auratic quality that provides them with values of use and of change that are modified depending on each setting.
The Stronger the Light your Shadow Cuts Deeper, 2010
Paper cutoutl
This piece consists of a paper cutout that reproduces the outline that delineates the figure of the goddess Coyolxauhqui on the monolith that is safeguarded in the Museum of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. Hanging directly on a wall, the careful and intricate interplay between paper and shadows results in an image where the effigy of the dismembered goddess is both guessed at and lost at the same time.
This tension between representation and blurring, together with the play of light and shadow that both the montage and the title of the work provide, indicates the impossibility of apprehending the meaning or the totality of Pre-Columbian sculpture. In fact, the title, 'The Stronger the Light your Shadow Cuts Deeper', emphasizes this idea: the luminosity and clairvoyance that are thrown on the monolith end up making its meaning darker.
In Mexica mythology, Coyolxauhqui (the moon) was the daughter of Coatlicue (earthly goddess of life and death), along with hundreds of other siblings (the stars). One day, when picking up a feather fallen from the sky, Coatlicue becomes mysteriously pregnant. When Coyolxauhqui and her siblings find out, they decide to kill their mother for considering her behavior dishonorable. However, when they seek to perpetrate this murder, Coatlicue gives birth to Huitzilopoztli, God of the Sun, who is born armed and ready to defend his mother. Thus, he defeats his stellar siblings and beheads Coyolxauhqui, throwing her head into the sky and throwing her body from a mountain, causing her dismemberment.
There is a Space in Time where You are just a Memory, 2010
The Coyolxauhqui monolith was discovered in Mexico City in 1978, while electrical engineering work was being carried out in the city center. This finding was a major media event in Mexico. As Castillo Deball has documented from careful archival research, there are even photographs of actresses like Maria Felix and Jane Fonda visiting the newly unearthed stone goddess.
As a result of the meeting with Coyolxauhqui, the then president and archaeology enthusiast, Jose Lopez Portillo, ordered the construction of the Museum of the Templo Mayor, on one side of the esplanade of the capital's Zocalo. To carry out this great excavation, years of work were necessary during which numerous colonial buildings were demolished, altering the urban configuration and the face of the city center.
'There is a Space in Time where You are just a Memory' is a video where the artist combines the myth of the goddess Coyolxauhqui with the story of her discovery and exhibition, as well such as urban changes and the public policies to which it led. The piece begins with a series of abstract shots, while telling the story of a hunter who devours himself. Later, s begin to appear from different perspectives of the paper filigree that reproduces the silhouette traced on the monolith of the goddess, while her mythical story is told.
In the last part, there are a series of historical photographs of the discovery, excavation and exhibition of the monolith in the historic center of Mexico City, as well as the demolition of buildings to be able to carry out the archaeological work. In this last part, the video takes up the titles of all the pieces that make up 'Between You and the Image that Reaches Me' as part of a poetic and speculative reflection on Coyolxauhqui, archaeological knowledge and its “margins”.
EKA, July 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWyzi0TfGz0
http://asapjournal.com/mariana-castillo-deball-finding-oneself-outside-jennifer-josten/
https://archive.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/2612
https://artishockrevista.com/2019/02/22/mariana-castillo-deball-new-museum
