Natalia Arbelaez: Mestizo, 2019-2022

Natalia Arbelaez, Colonización Española, 2019

Natalia Arbelaez: Mestizo, 2019-2022

In the Mestizo Series I am visually describing the people of South and Central America through the history of how our people came to exist. And not the false pretenses of “La Raza” (the new race) and “Mestizo”( (in Latin America) a man of mixed race, especially one having Spanish and indigenous descent) as if we just came to be and ignore the ugly history of being colonized. I tell the story of Latin American Colonization where the indigenous and the Spanish histories violently collide. Colonization played a detrimental role in not only how our land and autonomy was conquered but also how European ancestry and beauty standards are still favored. In this series I use material as a metaphor and its historical symbolism. I use red clay to reference the South American land and pre-Columbian art that has heavy influenced my work. I use white glaze that references Tin-Ware/ Majolica a material that the Spanish brought over in 16th century. I use this glaze to cover figures that reference the white washing of the red clay and red bodies. In these sculptures you will find whole white figures referencing the Spanish and some figures that only have white heads, hands, and feet the “Mestizo” who sees them self as white and can navigate the world as white passing. The sculptures will begin with a head or a women’s body at the bottom that reference the fight for the land and the detriment that the indigenous women’s body has and continues to endure. Material is also placed with hierarchal symbolism from the red clay at the bottom, then the white glaze, and then topped off with gold luster, referencing the sought-after material that the Spanish so coveted. These hierarchies are still present in Latin America through colorism in the community and the ignoring of our indigenous histories.

Photo captions – All photos by Chris Stone