Ezkoktin Tlalli
As a Questbridge Scholar at Wesleyan University, Samara developed Ezkoktin Tlalli (2023), a twenty-image series reflecting upon her personal viewpoint through diaspora as a migrant Mexican artist in the U.S. The complex layers of disconnect to homeland can be felt through the often visceral, emotional landscapes within the imagery that conjure a sense of wander and wonder. Ezkoktin Tlalli showcases her technical skills in the darkroom as well as the development of her handmade paper for photographic printing.
Within the imagery, Samara’s own body becomes a place of resistance – an embodiment of their natal soils. This theme is rooted in the cuerpo-territorio (body-territory) land resistance decolonial feminist movements throughout indigenous Latin American communities. Samara similarly explores this theme of resistance through bodies of water, animalia, forms that light and shadow create alongside the human form. The organic nature of their handmade paper additionally fuses the bond between the bodies pictured and the lands upon which Samara is creating.
This fusion of land and body is a manifestation of the kinship that Earth provides. The photographs become the medium, literally and spiritually, through which Samara can reflect upon her experience on Earth.
Ezkoktin Tlalli (2023) was formally presented at Zilkha Gallery on April 26th through April 30th as part of Nélida Samara’s Studio Art and Environmental Studies undergraduate degree completion. The exhibit included the twenty images seen above printed on handmade paper that Samara dedicated to formulating alongside the image-making process. Additionally, Samara’s studio practice inspired her to explore alternative methods of printing that ranged from cyanotype printing to chlorophyll prints, five of which were presented in this exhibi.
Recent exhibits of handmade paper photographs from this project include Ezkoktin Tlalli at Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery (Middletown, CT) as seen above, Raíces Hermosas at Middletown Art Center (Middletown, CA), and The Space Between also at Middletown Art Center.
©2024 Nélida Samara all rights reserved.
For inquiries contact nelidasamaracreates@gmail.com
Photography
Ezkoktin Tlalli
look at the water, see how she’s come for us
Cyanotype Meditations
Photos in the Dark
Light Paintings
Album Covers
Multimedia
Mitzemoa Noyollo
Botanical Illustrations
More
Artist Interview
Press
Contact
Email: nelidasamaracreates@gmail.com
©2024 Nélida Samara all rights reserved.