Conocimiento Callejero – Celia Herrera Rodriguez

I have always understood that entrusting the road of study and practice would finally lead me to knowing the evolving direction of my work. The deep influences of the doctors/medicine peoples that were able to help me, turned my attention toward another understanding of my work as an artist as a spiritual and intellectual life practice. Using the word art sounds incomplete to me, although it is an old word, a western European word that signifies “skill gained from study and practice.” The Nahuatl terms ‘toltekatl /amantecatl/ tlahcuiloh’ give more breadth to the meaning of art as an act of imagination made visible that is experienced by heart and mind. I am interested in connection to place of origin, which I feel is the homework that we as Xicanas must do on a personal, familial, and community level. The política of place brings us to the personal experience of I/we.