Tahila Xicahuamazatl Mintz: SPOKEN
December 10th, 2016 - January 7th, 2017
Artist Reception & Talk
Saturday December 10th, 2016
1:00pm to 4:00pm with the talk at 2:00pm
Facebook event link HERE.
Whirling Performance & Meditation
Thursday, December 29th, 2016, 6:30pm
Facebook event link HERE.
Closing Reception
Saturday January 7th, 2017
1:00pm to 4:00pm with artist in attendance
In this busy season, we thought it right to mount a quiet exhibit that requires guests to slow down and breath deep. Hence we are proud to announce the opening of “Spoken”, an exhibit of black and white photographs by Tahila Xicahuamazatl Mintz. These portraits, ranging in scale from large five by four foot images to smaller eight by ten inch images, may at first glance simply look like photos of trees, but slow down, breath deep, and you will begin to see what Mintz describes here:
"To walk alone into the forest is the first step to being able to hear the speaking. It is not immediate, but per individual. The next step is to hear your presence in the forest, the breaking of sticks beneath your feet. Then you hear and feel your breath in this airspace, that it is different than that outside of the woods. It will be silent at first, still, while you acclimate. And then as your mind is relaxed, your face will relax deeply and, as if your eyes open wider, you will see how very much alive the beings that surround you are.
“When we refer to spirits we usually are referring to those who have come before us, and occasionally those who will be birthed by us, but generally we speak of entities with the assumed shared human experience. The forest world has been densely growing and cycling for longer than we have been walking this earth. These spirits, these ancient beings, have wisdoms and perspectives rooted from the time of the core of the earth. And they see through me, they see through us.
“After hearing my footsteps, walking in to where the path is no longer visible, I exhale. I begin to sense the trees dancing in the rustle of the leaves, the silhouettes of glowing light and the darkness breathing. The trees begin calling me, in different ways and in manners that bypass my logical brain. Welcomed to come and visit with them, I bring my large format camera. I contort optics and make long exposure, allowing for more to imprint than what the eye could see…possibly our intimate encounter, possibly what was spoken.
SPOKEN is a body of portraits; recordings of wisdom shared.
“Tahila has innate intelligence about terrain as a living entity.” – Uriel Carpenter.
Tahila Xicahuamazatl Mintz received her BA in Multicultural Communications from American University in Washington DC and her MFA, concentrating on photography, from the University of Texas. Her practice focuses on documenting indigenous cultures around the world. Currently she is producing and directing the documentary “Women of the Water”, expected to be complete mid 2018. Mintz’s work has been included in three group exhibits at CAMIBAart; this is her first solo exhibit with CAMIBAart.