PROYECTO ESPECIAL EDUARDO SARABIA. PLUMED SERPENT AND OTHERS PARTIES

Pottery has been used by different cultures amongst other things, as a narrative tool. In the work of Eduardo Sarabia (Los Angeles,1976), pottery has become one of the most important mediums for interweaving traditional elements—such as Talavera—with themes of social and natural order that are related to activities associated with illegal economies and survival. Hence different forms of movement, circulation and exchange, impact the cultural and everyday processes communicated in his work.

Eduardo Sarabia. Plumed Serpent and Other Parties is the most recent installation conceived by the artist, as a result of a personal fascination with the quetzal. In search of this bird, which has been long immersed in ancient myths, Sarabia went on a journey to Biósfera del Triunfo in the state of Chiapas, in the Southern part of Mexico. There, through various forms of exchange with the locals, a feather of a quetzal from to the black market passed through his hands. Taking this experience into account Sarabia foresees this project as an homage to featherwork. The renowned “Moctezuma´s Headdress” was not only made with feathers from the quetzal, but also with those of other birds that are part of this celebration including: lovely cotinga, squirrel cuckoo, and the roseate spoonbill.

The top of the ceiba tree—a sacred tree for pre-Hispanic cultures and commonly found in their public plazas—was, according to a legend of the Popol Vuh, the dwelling of the gods who inhabited it in the form of a quetzal. The ceibas presented throughout the installation introduce a dance of spiritual characters, masked deities, political parties and other objects, referring to new mythologies and rituals. Plumed Serpent and Other Parties suggests an alternate path into terrains and border-like economies by means of the representation of a taxidermy collection of nearly 300 birds that are in danger of extinction, as is the case of the quetzal.

Eduardo Sarabia would like to thank Julián Jaime, Michele de Alba, Manuel García, Enrique Nuño, Uwaldo Macías Bernadés, Cristina Sescosse, Karla Vázquez, Kenya Rodríguez, Enrique Cabrales, José Noé Suro, Chino Cóatl y José García, Art21Studio, además de Colección Promodesa, Colección Diéresis, Colección Gaia, y Colección Juncal.