Untitled (from the series Huertos de los ch’olti)

This series of preparatory drawings for the installation “Huertos de los ch’olti,” serves as a vehicle for a fragmented imaginary that gives form to the lost town of the Manche Ch’ol. Rendered in fine lines and colored pencil on paper, the drawings reconstruct the characters carved into the resin and glass amulets that form part of the installation. Deeply indebted to the language of Indigenous cosmologies and science fiction, the drawings portray what appear to be ghosts, spirits, and earthly beings: faces and bodies with human features that morph into plants, bulbs, flowers, and leaves. Botanical forms sprout from the mouths, ears, eyes, and fingers of legendary figures whose story of expulsion and erasure Ramírez-Figueroa pays homage to.

In some of the drawings, the artist inserts zoomorphic heads, forms reminiscent of fetuses and chrysalises, creating a symbolic language linked to suspension, metamorphosis, and the liminal. Drawn on white paper or, in some cases, on a cloudy background painted in watercolor, these figures exist in a state of transition between two worlds.