Claudia’s project during her residency will be an approach to drawing through unravelling textiles. Such textiles are “Rebozos,” traditional woven shawls from Mexico with connections to gender roles and mourning practices. This form of drawing consists of creating images and/or portraits on the shawls through a delicate process of deconstruction of the garments. By carefully cutting and pulling away threads, Claudia will clear out spaces where the interwoven threads will reveal images. Through these materials and processes she will explore the topic of feminicide—the killing of women on account of their gender—and its aftermath. In Mexico, feminicide manifests in the thousands of women and girls murdered each year. The aftermath experienced by the victims’ families is an interruption of grieving processes, due to the corruption and neglect of the authorities involved in the cases surrounding these murders. Thus, the process of unravelling echoes the systematic and widespread violence in Mexico that allows feminicide to thrive.

Claudia Chagoya is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and based in Calgary, Canada. She holds an MFA degree from the University of Calgary, and a BFA from Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.