In 1830 Weeks of Shelter, Strengthen Me the shawl hangs like a small Wendy house, its fabric washed repeatedly with bars of soap until solidified. Embedded within the soap are 1,830 stones, one for every week of my life up until the opening Hilo Común for Bienalsur. This particular type of shawl is used to carry babies, an emancipation of the working woman, to shelter from the sun and rain, to carry food, and to wrap the dead. It is said to grow stronger through repeated washing, a paradox of wear that becomes endurance and fortitude. Suspending the work are 6 strings of knotted fishing line. Each knot brings two pieces of line together, strengthening and bonding. During my year of itinerancy, these knots stand in place of the different people who have given me strength and a place to stay.

The two works, ‘Bundle' and '1830 Weeks of Shelter, Strengthen Me' speak of shelter as both external and internal: the home built around us, and the home we can learn to carry within.

Photographed by Matthias Grobe at Museum of Contemporary Art Oaxaca for Bienalsur