Stations of the Cross

The cross and the crucifix are ubiquitous figures in the heavily Catholic landscape of the American southwest. The mix of Native, Spanish, and African cultures in Northern Mexico has influenced the evolution of those symbols until they have become quite distinctive.  It is a common practice among Mexicans and Mexican Americans to nail milagros ("miracles" — small metal charms representing afflictions or hopes and aspirations) to wooden crosses in the hopes that their prayers will be answered. These family crosses become a chronicle of hopes and fears, unique markers of identity and one's personal relationship with the deity.  This practice meshes with other symbolically representative Mexican practices, such as the creation of altars for ancestors (particularly on the Day of the Dead) and for saints.
          American and European fascination with the trappings of Mexican Catholicism and folk religion has grown along with tourism in the American southwest, and the commercialization of this imagery is rife throughout the region.  One can buy milagros and milagro-studded crosses at every tourist shop, along with fake "Native American" dreamcatchers, animal fetish carvings, sugar-candy skulls, and representations of the one Mexican artist whose name is well-known to travelers: Frida Kahlo.  These items are often mixed with souvenirs that have stickers reading, "Made in China," or other locations far from the place they are purchased. Tourist shops all over the world have begin to carry non-local products that, although manufactured in a distant land by people of a totally different culture, nonetheless signify to the American or European consumer the otherness of the people of the country they are currently visiting.  
          "Stations of the Cross" is simultaneously an homage to the Mexican folk and sacred artists who developed and who still maintain a living tradition of worship, and a commentary on the appropriative strategies of global capitalism, where the trappings of any "primitive" culture become commodities for production and distribution to those who crave the illusion of authenticity.
          My crosses are formed out of RAM chips — the computer memory chips that provide active storage while the machine is turned on.  When the machine is turned off, all memory in those chips vanishes.  This serves as the foundation metaphor for cultural appropriation, a practice that strips cultural products of their history and context, reducing them to objects that "stand for" a tourist's entry into the exotic landscape that exists only in their imagination.  It also pays a gesture of respect to the resourcefulness of folk cultures, where "junk" discards are often used to manufacture tourist goods (bottle caps, tin cans, etc.). The "milagros" I attach to my crosses and crucifixes are symbols and images that run counter to expectations and evoke a reaction of surprise in the viewer. They disturb the comfortable narrative that underpins the consumption of the exotic Other and turn it on its head, so it is the audience that is suddenly under scrutiny.

Beasts Cross Buddhas Hand Buddhas Ladder Devils Cross Elvis Cross Going Up Mardi Gras Cross Pans Cross Pirate Cross Sailors Cross The Nail