Tiemperos del Antropoceno: TOLCHIKAUALISTLI

Tolchikaualistli: to exist simultaneously in two places and dimensions of time is an immigrant’s ability to embody a transborder life, navigating the past, present, and future at once. To (be)long is to reclaim territory, in this case it is a transcendence of time and space as a means to reclaim a new dimension of territory or place that must exist in between two worlds, between the past and the future, between two identities, between ones many selves. Smuggling traditions are acts of resiliency, self-preservation, resistance, and self-rematriation in a dimension of transborder indigeneity and within one’s many selves: to be an alien; to be the other; to be the threat; to be the dream; to be the backbone; to be the invasion; to be a cultural nomad; to be (in)visible; to be 500 years of historical weight; to be a ‘pinche indio’ ; to be hope…

Video work on view in the 534 Window Gallery
Performed by Borrego – Omar Xique Cuautle, Birija – Adrian Xique Trinidad Photography Director: David Morales

Federico Cuatlacuatl is an artist born in San Francisco Coapan, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. He is currently based in Charlottesville, VA and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Virginia. Federico’s work is invested in disseminating topics of Nahua indigenous immigration, social art practice, and cultural sustainability. Building from his own experience growing up as an undocumented immigrant and previously holding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Federico’s creative practice centers on the intersectionality of indigeneity and immigration under a pressing Anthropocene. At the core of his most recent research and artistic production is the intersection of transborder indigeneity, migrant indigenous diasporas, and Nahua futurisms. Federico’s independent film productions have been screened in national and international film festivals and exhibitions. As founder and director of the Rasquache Artist Residency in Puebla, Mexico, he actively stays involved in socially engaged works and binational endeavors.