Quake/Temblor (2009 - present)

In the summer of 2009, I found images of the aftermath of a disaster in my parents’ basement. These photographs, amidst family snapshots of picnics and graduations, were taken by my father, a civil engineer who returned home to Mexico City to document the effects of the 1985 earthquake. This juxtaposition was destabilizing, pushing me to question the issue of terra firma in daily life.

 I created the ongoing multimedia project Quake/Temblor to make visible some of what lies between everyday family life and the experience of an earthquake, and to explore the relationship between human and geographic disaster. Using drawings, engravings on kitchen tables (a hallmark of family life), prints pulled from the tables, video projection, surround sound, photography and writing, the project joins spaces of scientific testing, public memory, and private history. See Edificios Revisados/Revised Buildings for more on the engravings on kitchen table tops.

 As part of the project, I staged a happening on a seismic shake table, during which participants reenacted life before, during, and after a quake in a bedroom and living room set and structural engineers applied a seismic record from the 1985 Mexico City earthquake to the dining room set. I am currently working on an artists’ book combining archival images, collage, documentation from the seismic shake table, and text.

Archival photographs, documentary photographs, text, surround sound, and video

 Diagnostic photographs by and text in collaboration with Jacobo Bielak

SRMD facility (seimsic shake table) access and support provided by engineers Gianmario Benzoni, Joel Conte, Donato Innamorato, and Ed Stovin

Sound design supported by Edward Sterrett, Colin Gabriel, Charles Miller, and Nina Waisman

Video shot by Monica Duncan, Merve Kayan, and Dolissa Medina, with production support from Lauren Berliner

Video participants include Mariola Alvarez, Lauren Berliner, Fabian Cereijido, Deniz Ilkbasaran, Esteban Martinez, Melissa Martinez, and Giancarlo Ruiz

Exhibited internationally, including San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art and Museo del Estanquillo, Mexico City