Ancestral Cartography, 2020

upper garment made of chaquira

30 in diameter

This is a breastplate entitled Ancestral Cartography. This pectoral won a national award in 2020. The title is so because my mother, Inocencia Gonzalez, told me that her great grand-mother González told her, that her great-grandmother and her mother told her that, in ancient, ancestral times, in the sacred mountain the of Wishpa there were many eagles, and that is why it was a sacred mountain. With my mother's narrations, I was inspired to create this traditional pectoral. I captured what were the mountains, the roads and giving the feathers that are on the neck; I made the mountains feathers on the neck; I made the mountains, which are the white ones that you can see and, above, the dots flying over, the eagles.

My mother told me that a long time ago, in the times of our ancestors, because this hill was the mountain visited by the Cucapás. They went to the foot of the some of them climbed it, and that the eagles that the white-necked eagles nested on the that there were a lot of eagles and well, that's where they reproduced, flying over the top of the top of the the top of the hill. So, this pectoral is based on this story that my mother my mother told me and that her great grandmother great-grandmother and her mother told her. That's how I made this necklace how I made this necklace, based on this story.

Estela, 2022

upper garment made of chaquira

30 in diameter

The art of the pectorals is part of the cultural traditions of the Cucapa, and Cucapa women, as it is an ancestral legacy. Stela: an instrument of transmission and storage of the Cucapá vision, which in symbols, shapes and colors symbols, shapes and colors, attest to the wisdom of the people, and the magnificence of the land and water.

Language written in chaquira, which the steps of the ancestors through the path of the mountains, the river and the desert, under the sun, that with a lively voice they erected and transmitted their legacy; "legacy of a people in resistance." It is the way to leave a record of our cultural heritage. 

This pectoral contains the essential elements of the Cucapa culture; colored, black and yellow. Colorado, the river that anointed, quenched thirst and brought food to the water people. Food to the people of the water. 

Blacks were imprinted on the routes with firm steps; paths of nomadism of the Cucapa. 
Yellow was the biznaga flower, fruit of the earth of the earth and food for the body and and soul.

Traditional Cape, Jalat, 2019

upper garment made of chaquira

28 in diameter

This is a traditional layer of the oldest stitch. Nothing else these capes were made by Doña Inocencia Gonzalez and she inherited her stitch, which is one of the oldest stitches that were oldest stitches ever made; the first capes made by made by the Cucapá.  So, this traditional is based on the story of the Jaltat, which was the snake that formed the river and the sea. So, in this cape we tell the story of the Jaltat of the river, because the red represents the Colorado, the blue the sea.

And some rhombuses that are in the pectoral, for they speak of the men, of the clan of the turtle men, who belong to the Cucapa belong to the Cucapa people; that they left and stayed, so from here speaking of the sacred mountain of the Wishpá hill. Also the black peaks black peaks that can be seen represent the sacred mountain of the hill of Wishpa. So, they went to the other side of the river. This layer, then, tells of how the sea and the Colorado River were Colorado River were formed. That when the Jaltat had blue testicles and a red one; then there was a boy who was called the naughty boy. He was a cucapá, that when his family went to bring food, next to San Felipe, he Felipe, he would look at the snake lying on the sand, lying down. And he would and looked at his testicles. The Wishpa, which was the sacred mountain, was the boy's aunt. He left and when he got there, well, he gave him a shot to one of his testicles. It burst the blue testicle, which formed the sea. And so it shot another arrow and blew off the other testicle, the egg. The other testicle, the red egg.

That's when the river, the Colorado the river, the Colorado River. The water of the Colorado the water of the Colorado River had spilled and then all this fury of the water fury of the water. Among the water came the animal, which became a monster when it got angry. The snake became angry and turned into a monster that came monster that came chasing the boy to kill him the boy to kill him for the pain he had caused him. Then it and became enraged, and ran after the boy. And the water of the Colorado Colorado River chasing him from beyond the sea of Cortés. So he ran. Along with the water of the Colorado River came the monster chasing him. So, this is what the hill is formed hill speaks of the black hill. In this pectoral, the blue color speaks of the water; of the sea of the water; of the sea; the blue sea; the Colorado River; and Colorado; and, therefore, what are the - I don't know if you can say "grecas" - what form the mountains. that form the mountains. You can you can see that the peaks are formed. And it also talks about the roads; what that can be the paths that the Cucapás or used to travel, the Cucapás; because up to this point in time we have not innovated in the drawing that gives us life, that is part of our cosmovision part of our cosmovision, of what we shape in our pectorals.