Desahogamiento, literally translated as “the act or process of undrowning,” has always been with me. I grew up hearing this word from my mother who believed in grieving as medicine. She would describe desahogamiento as the self-directed, embodied "grief work" which makes healing possible. But it wasn’t until reading “Woman Who Glows in the Dark” by curandera Elena Avila that I learned desahogamiento is a literal healing technique within curanderismo, or Mexican folk medicine. My practice is centered in the union of intuitive ways of knowing(particularly dreamwork and storytelling), our changing climate realities, and the role of art as a somatic healing technology. In this, my paintings manifest from the act of undrowning.
I am interested in 1) the study of ecopsychology, the idea that our bodies (including unconscious aspects of the psyche) are sensitive to the transitions of the biosphere; 2) somatic ecology, the theory connecting our relationship with our bodies to the environmental crisis; and 3) in re-enchantment as vital spiritual activism in times of collapse and uncertainty.
