by Ixchel Tonantzin Xochitlzihuatl

Space-place activation
Time/ line configurations

To gather: food (resource community. nourish souls. connect hearts.)

Plants
As portals

Water
As memory

Elder wisdom
within our bodies

Stories that soar
beyond borders

Rainbows and resacas
Illuminating
Refracting
Remembering
Re-
Member-
Ing

(A gerund)
The light, the water, the sand
In motion

The space
Of our bodies

The space between our bodies

Our bodies like stars
Constellations of hope
Singing our way
To the homes in our heart

Home is here
We are home

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ixchel Tonantzin Xochitlzihuatl is a visual, community, and conceptual artist who works to evolve the collective imagination towards more peaceful, just and liberatory present/ futures. She served as one of five artist researcher partners in ThirdSpace’s Storied Communities, Community Stories project. Xochitlzihuatl has ancestral roots connecting her to the Rio Grande Valley and moved to the region for a fellowship with buildingcommunityWORKSHOP in 2016; after the fellowship ended, she has continued to work with the community in the Rio Grande Valley to this day.