Venus De Tacarigua
1,4 m × 40 cm
Gres, esmalte, jesmonita, MDF, cera, citrino, concha, lapislázuli, coral, plata, instalación sonora, tinte y agua.
Venus de Tacariguas are indigenous Venezuelan fertility figures traditionally made from red clay. They are often one of the first forms a Venezuelan ceramicist learns to make, marking both the beginning of their relationship with clay and a ritual passage into the practice.
I began this piece in response to the U.S. bombing of Caracas at the beginning of 2026. It was made as a wish for luck, protection and rebirth. Bringing together ancestral ceramic traditions with a contemporary Latin futurist perspective, the work imagines fertility as something intentional: a way of reclaiming agency, abundance and hope. The blown kiss is an offering. It is a reminder that Venezuelans continue to shape their own future and remain connected to their land, culture and resources.
The sculpture emerges from water, reflecting the region around Lake Valencia where the original Venus de Tacariguaswere made. It also continues my ongoing exploration of water as an archive, a place where stories can disappear, settle and eventually rise back to the surface.
After the first firing, the sculpture was accidentally dropped and repaired using kintsugi. A week later, two devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, leaving both the land and its people fractured in a way that felt painfully close to the work itself. The repaired crack shifted from an accident to an essential part of the sculpture. It became a reminder that repair does not erase what has happened. Instead, it carries that history forward, making space for strength, care and transformation. Like the Venezuelan people, the work has been shaped by fire, and resilience is woven into its body.
The sculpture is still part of a larger work in progress and will eventually sit within an immersive installation. It has so far been shown at a mezcal and tequila tasting hosted by Agave Rooms at Alchemy Experiment, and at Arepas for Venezuela, a fundraising exhibition supporting those affected by the earthquakes.
Both exhibitions reflect an embodied approach to my art practice. Within many Latin American traditions, nourishment, celebration and collective joy are ways of carrying one another through hardship. Visitors were invited to rub the sculpture's belly while making a wish for peace and prosperity for the people of Venezuela, as well as for their own families, extending the work beyond the gallery and into a shared act of hope.
