Green Gold

“What does it mean to be here?” This was the initial research question of this thesis. Over the course of my MFA, I have lived in two countries: Canada (my birthplace) and Mexico. But the question of belonging is more than merely geographical. What began with a focus on questioning what it meant to belong in either country developed into an understanding of how knowledge creation develops in my practice. Through an iterative collaborative process with henequén fibre, I came closer to understanding childhood influences on my practice and politics in modes of making. With common Mexican materials, I began to learn and respect the unpredictable ecologies of plants and objects. This thesis is my attempt to make sense of our world through the social, corporeal, and sculptural components in my practice. It is a journey that will begin over and over again, and is led by my curiosity in the question: How have we been made?