Red Rush Red Crush

These two costumes were created during my stay in Mexico, with assistance by Ines Somellera. This installation is an addition to the project Apapacho – Silent Wear, a collaboration project by Ines Somellera and supported ESAS.
It started with my ‘red’ obsession and love for the vibrant colors in Mexican textiles. I learned about the history of cochineal [grana cochinella} a pre-hispanic way of creating red/ purple color for textile and painting, which became a commodity from the 16th century, when the Spanish introduced this to Europe and beyond, replacing scarlet red. This cochineal scale insect lives as a sessile parasite on the nopal cactus and creates a carmine red when crushed. With this significant color and process of crushing, I painted a copy of the portraits on posters of the missing people, which are hanging on different locations throughout Guadalajara. The posters are a scream for attention and remembering, and the costumes are like a banner, to be worn on the street, anticipating on attention. At the back of the costumes, words are written that were collected during the Apapacho – Silent Wear workshops, delving in the most personal interpretations on loss with the participants.
The costumes represent at the front– the portraits of the common situation in Mexico and its daily reality, and at the back – the personal emotions translated into words on ‘loss’.