Gulf of Abya Yala / Guna (2024 / 2025)
artist's hair, yarn, cotton bedsheet
dimensions variable
L: Gulf of Abya Yala / Guna (2024 / 2025)
R: Aotearoa / Maori (2025)
artist's hair, yarn, cotton bedsheet
dimensions variable
Kunstverein Braunschweig 2025
Gulf of Abya Yala / Guna (2024 / 2025)
artist's hair, yarn, cotton bedsheet
(Detail)
Kunstverein Braunschweig 2025
Gulf of Abya Yala / Guna (2024 / 2025)
artist's hair, yarn, cotton bedsheet
(Reproduction)
In response to Donald Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the work takes up the term Abya
Yala. In critical discourse, it is used by the indigenous peoples of this region as the name for the land areas we know today as America. The term originates from the Guna culture (present-day northern Colombia / Panama) and translates as “land in full bloom.” In reflection on my own roots and in solidarity, "Gulf of America" is embroidered with my hair on a light blue bedsheet. With its shape, color, and drape, the sheet evokes the water that surrounds these land areas. The material refers to an everyday sphere in which, however, the private and the political are connected on many levels. The hair embroidery on the textile evokes moments of disturbance, such as hair left behind on a hotel bed or lurking in the soup.
Yala. In critical discourse, it is used by the indigenous peoples of this region as the name for the land areas we know today as America. The term originates from the Guna culture (present-day northern Colombia / Panama) and translates as “land in full bloom.” In reflection on my own roots and in solidarity, "Gulf of America" is embroidered with my hair on a light blue bedsheet. With its shape, color, and drape, the sheet evokes the water that surrounds these land areas. The material refers to an everyday sphere in which, however, the private and the political are connected on many levels. The hair embroidery on the textile evokes moments of disturbance, such as hair left behind on a hotel bed or lurking in the soup.