Title: Cercamiento (enclosure)

One of the first actions carried out by the colonizers in the northeastern area of Mexico was their settlement and delimitation of land despite being inhabited by native hunter-gatherers. As a result of the appropriation of the territory, land, water and food resources began to be distributed unevenly within the settlers. This process of territorial appropriation and resource delimitation has never stopped and still continues in contemporary culture as industry keeps developing factories in rural areas, depleting the land from its natural resources.

How can we learn from these appropriation events, consciously knowing that it has been a never ending process, in order to understand what kind of resources are present in our locality and how they can be used in the benefit of the people and the environment?

Events:
Antiquity: Coexistence with the territory, nature and its resources.
Colony: Appropriation and segmentation of land and resources.
Today: Land delimitation, privatization, socio-spatial stratification, unconscious exploitation of resources.

Elements:Pre-Hispanic: Jícaras (gourds).
Action: Division.
Industrial: Glass panels.

Materials: Guaje (gourds), glass.

Title: Individualismo (individualism)

The northeastern Mexico natives shared a communal way of life. Within the same group, between men and women they assigned specific tasks where one or several members had to provide resources for the others, which created an obligation and dependence on the community. The exploitation of resources for the benefit of a few, and the family and social separation that started in the form of slavery, marks an abrupt change in social dynamics of pre colonial society. In a similar way, today people from rural areas leave their communities in order to seek for new work opportunities, most of the time at transnational industries that manufacture mass produced commodities for a limited percentage of the population who can afford them.

How can communal social dynamics that are the result of the relationships within an environment can help us understand better the needs of our community (ies) and their surroundings?

Events:
Antiquity: Dependence with the community, artisanal production, union and identity.
Colony: Slavery, family separation, social division.
Today: Exploitation, industrial production, individualism.

Elements:
Pre-Hispanic: Mortar and hand.
Action: Industrial production against artisanal.
Industrial: Plaster cast molds.

Materials: Silex, plaster.

Title: Sedentarismo (sedentary lifestyle)

The geography and ecosystems of the Northeast defined the semi-nomadic way of living of the native ethnic groups, guided by the seasons and the abundance of resources in certain areas at a certain time of the year. Since the colony, a sedentary lifestyle has replaced the movement of the people in a territory alien to the fixed settlements, which have led to the disappearance of ancient territorial knowledge, the unconscious exploitation of the land and destruction of ecosystems. 

Rediscovering the ancient knowledge embedded in our natural ecosystems, what can we learn in order to better understand our local environment so we can coexist within it without destroying?

Events:
Antiquity: Temporary settlements according to the seasons and abundance of resources.
Colony: Fixed settlements, imposition of mining, agriculture and livestock.
Today: Sedentary lifestyle, urban spots accelerate their growth, reduction of natural areas.

Elements:
Pre-Hispanic: Sandals.
Action: Weight, immobilize.
Industrial: Concrete platform.

Materials: Ixtle (agave fibers), concrete.

Title: Exterminio (extermination)

The northeastern native cosmology was based on the understanding and connection with the environment; they attributed mythical characteristics to the sky, the stars, the earth and living beings that were elementary for their subsistence, one depended on the other.

The war against the semi-nomadic indigenous populations (Guerra Chichimeca) was a relevant epoch that marked the extermination of entire ethnic groups, which lasted 200 years of rebellion against colonial oppression and another 100 years of extermination due to political and economic interests. Today’s metropolitan lifestyle and the fiction of better opportunities to work at the industry are one of the main reasons for gentrification and social stratification in big cities in northeastern Mexico.

What can hidden history tell us about our relationship with the others? How can all the social diversity and ignored stories of a territory can be respected and taken in account in the construction of its identity, traditions and imaginary?

Events:
Antiquity: Hunter-gatherers, semi-nomadic cultures.
Colony: Oppression, rebellion by the natives, war, ethnocide.
Today: Oblivion, replacement for industrial culture.

Elements:
Pre-Hispanic: Bag, deer leather (northeastern pre-hispanic deity).
Action: Extermination.
Industrial: Steel pedestal and iron pellets.

Materials: Deer leather (sport hunting by-product), steel, iron pellets.