TITLE: "Coyopapalotl Itemic [coh-yoh-pah-pah-loh-khl eeh-teh-mik] "

Partially funded by a Canada Council for the Arts Explore & Create Grant, Coyopapalotl Itemic [coh-yoh-pah-pah-loh-khl eeh-teh-mik] (my Nahuatl name, meaning the coyote butterfly’s dream) is an ambitious, multi-media exploration of displacement and belonging within Turtle Island’s colonial context.

Using a traditional Tarot deck as the visual framework, and Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s concept of Nepantla (a Nahuatl term) as the conceptual framework, this body of work beckons resilience in the spaces in-between displacement and belonging. Anzaldúa, a Chicana Queer Feminist Scholar, defined Nepantla as the state of “in-between-ness” experienced by people of mixed heritage. As a Mixed/ Mestiza Artist, this is a feeling I have endured my entire life.

By using my Nahuatl name Coyopapalotl Itemic, the project asserts my existence and commitment to Indigenous Futurity. Inspired by a traditional Tarot deck this work aims to capacitate explorations of self. Created in collaboration with models of diverse experiences, embodiments, and expressions, each Tarot archetype is imbued with the profundity of our shared resilience.

Coyopapalotl Itemic is a labour of love. I strive to be a part of a shift in consciousness and culture that affirms my being and that of others’; a shift that holds space for those of us who feel marginalized and/or unsure of where we belong while disrupting colonial constructs of worthiness, asserting: we belong! Developed through tintype photography, and collage in Photoshop, this project applies traditional and contemporary approaches to creation and meaning-making to offer invitations to reflection, healing, and integration.

AUTHOR: Alexandra Black (Canada)

I am a Mixed/ Mestiza (Nahua Pipil; Maya; Settler) multi-media artist based in so-called Vancouver. Partially funded by a Canada Council for the Arts Explore & Create Grant, Coyopapalotl Itemic [coh-yoh-pah-pah-loh-khl eeh-teh-mik] (my Nahuatl name, meaning the coyote butterfly’s dream) is an ambitious exploration of displacement and belonging within Turtle Island’s colonial context.

Using a traditional Tarot deck as the visual framework, and Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s concept of Nepantla (a Nahuatl term) as the conceptual framework, this body of work beckons resilience in the spaces in-between displacement and belonging. Anzaldúa, a Chicana Queer Feminist Scholar, defined Nepantla as the state of “in-between-ness” experienced by people of mixed heritage. As a Mixed/ Mestiza Artist, this is a feeling I have endured her entire life.

Coyopapalotl Itemic is a labour of love. I strive to be a part of a shift in consciousness and culture that affirms those of us who feel unsure of where they belong while disrupting colonial constructs of worthiness, asserting: we belong! Developed through a hybrid of 1853 analogue techniques with digital collage, this project applies traditional and contemporary approaches to creation and meaning-making to offer invitations to reflection, healing, and integration.

While I have experience working with a variety of media, from leatherwork to classical drawing, tintype photography is my primary love. It is a laborious, slow, and tangible process that is medicinal to me. I discovered it in my mid-20s when I was searching for a photographic medium that would not rely on current day technologies. I was looking for an intimate relationship between myself and the medium—for that connection. The alchemy of its processes and the magic of the images revealing themselves was revolutionary to my practice as an emerging artist. Since then, I have received mentorship from Master Artists including Tekoa Predika, Quinn Jacobsen and Romina Sol Catanzaro.

I am now on a path of tintype facilitated discovery. By piecing together fragments of my culture, I am constructing an offering to Indigenous Futurity while staying in conversation with my Ancestors.