INNER~VIEWS : MARTHA ALICIA JIMÉNEZ
Through her work, Martha Alicia explores the themes of healing and repair, beauty in rupture, and connecting with her body as a woman and as a mother. She focuses on creating free-hand sculptural clay pieces. Her pieces express the intimate relationship of the artist’s body with her femininity and movement.
Her work has been shown in various spaces, such as Museo de Filatelia, Museo de Arte Popular, Museo de Los Pintores Oaxaqueños, Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Central Public Library of Oaxaca, and the Mexican Cultural Institute in New York.
Martha Alicia has engaged in various collaborations with other multidisciplinary artists in mediums such as dance and music. Her work includes providing access to the arts to the children of Santa Cruz Papalutla, Oaxaca.
She is from Oaxaca, México, and is currently living in Los Angeles, California.
*Can you give a bit of a backstory on how you got to where you are today? How did you begin working with clay?
I knew that I came to this world to create, to tell something. It just took me awhile to find the medium. I tried dance, choir, photography, painting, until I reached clay.
This is the first mezcalero I sold. From that moment on, the clay and I understood each other well. I remember the advice of a good friend, who also worked with clay: don’t stop playing with it for a single day, now that you found your gift, take care of it.
I went to Chiapas, Guadalajara and Puebla in some communities of pottery towns to learn about their processes. In Tonalá, I worked closely with the teacher Cuca Navarro and Dionisio Bautista. I am very curious about methods of firing and different types of clay. Before the pandemic, I asked my friend Cristina Santiago from San Marcos Tlapazola to explain how quemas a cielo abierto (open burning) works, and she taught me how to burn [at my home] in Papalutla the pieces that I had made in Atzompa, with clay that I got from my teacher Francisco Martinez.
I consider myself a collage of all the people who have guided me, since I do not come from a family of potters. One day, my son Demian, son of the land of Papalutla, made a little monkey, and he asked me to burn it. To my surprise, the piece burned and the color of the clay came out a beautiful orange. I understood that we had clay of our own in Papalutla. I called two natural clay experts, Jesus Aguilar from Chiapas and again my friend Cristina from Tlapazola.
*What inspires your work?
The altars are wonderful to me. In our culture, the altar has a way of expressing its faith and its affection for the house where one lives. It is very important in Oaxacan homes.
Also the mud. Tierra. The aroma and sensation of mud on rainy days reminds me that one day my body will be covered in mud, and I wish that my pieces tell how a woman lived her life, motherhood, and love.
And, my two kids. I do not romanticize motherhood, but I always wanted to be a mother. I think that an act of love and struggle is to understand if we want to be mothers and go for it. Being a mother was my choice, and I respect it and honor it very much.
Martha Alicia, exploring her shadows among the pots, at her grandmother’s home in Santa Cruz Papalutla.
*Tell us about Tierra Mariposa and how it came to be.
My mother left her community at the age of eleven for family reasons. However, she always carried her hometown [Santa Cruz Papalutla] in her heart and in her mind. She fell in love with my father, she had children, and she injected us with respect for Papalutla from the womb. We moved to Papalutla during the pandemic. I understood that it was important to weave the community into our lives, and that’s what I did: I started giving clay workshops. The first workshop cost 50 pesos and was done virtually. It was a great success. I promised myself to work hard so the children did not have to pay for an art class, and so I did. Currently, we are opening the doors of the workshop for free.
My grandmother was a lover of clay. She admired the material and her house was full of pots, plates, cups and one of the main houses in the workshop is adobe. For me, it is a living archive of my family history.
I had learned to burn with my friend Cristina Santiago, but I also learned to find mud with her. I went on hikes for over 3 years to explore natural clay and the burning process. I understood that it was important and necessary to share this practice that helped me to find not only clay, but also to find myself in nature, myself in motherhood, between noise and silence. I thank all the teachers who taught me to develop this practice and also opened the doors of my workshop with the same gratitude to share my processes: to have conversations and hikes. I see that many people who took my workshops now also take walks to find their material, and it fills me with emotion and satisfaction; being able to be useful to heal collectively through such a noble material.
Tierra Mariposa was born from the need to share my process, because for me it was very important to connect with my body, my movements and nature in those difficult times like the pandemic. After that time of trauma, we all needed to be in a collective, use our hands, and what better option than clay.
Teachers and friends of Martha Alicia with her son Demian, identifying clay while hiking in Santa Cruz Papalutla.
*You recently moved to LA; how are you adjusting to life here?
It is a big and strong change for my little Demian and for me, even though I am here for love and with a lot of privilege. Los Angeles allowed me to react and understand what it means to migrate. It made me respond to the care of Papalutla in a different way.
My work has changed a lot. Before moving here, I burned in the open air. Now I am burning in an electric kiln, that allows me to play with colors and glazes.
How do you center and ground yourself?
Walking with my children, visiting Placita Olvera reminds us a lot of Oaxaca, listening to my son read to his sister, breathing, taking a bath with hot water, writing my thoughts, and working with clay.
*How do you keep aspects of your home and culture with you here?
Miguel, my fiancé, is from the same town where my mother’s family is from. It is very magical, because we speak the same language. We live very close to his parents [in Los Angeles], Miguel’s mother is an excellent chef. She cooks mole, higaditos, tamales, chocolate, among other traditional dishes from our community.
We also keep rituals and traditions on important occasions such as the Day of the Dead (Todos Santos). They still speak Zapotec, which even though I don’t speak it, just listening to it fills me with echoes and memories of my grandmother and Papalutla. The same thing happens to Demian.
*Have you found any places in LA that bring you joy?
The nature of Los Angeles is impressive, the forests, the beaches, the mountains. Right now I don’t have a favorite, I’m just exploring. I would love to go out more. With time, I would love to go on hikes to extract my own mud, like I used to do in Papalutla.
*What's your ideal day look like?
I love spending time with my little ones and even more so if we are creating. Whether it’s drawing, making a piece of clay, walking or reading a short story. I know that the change of country has been a very strong blow for my son, so every minute accompanying him is valuable. I also like cooking for my family. I’m not the best, but it empowers me to be able to fill their bodies with healthy food in a culture where you can eat fast food. It’s a symbol of resistance for me.
*What is your prayer to the world?
While I can concentrate, before my daughter gets up and Demian leaves for school, I only have a period of 10 minutes to prepare my coffee and move freely. I move my body slowly around the room. I take advantage of the dim light of the morning to play with some shadows. I take a deep breath and move faster and faster so thoughts that I left the night before come back, and I can give them a voice and thus break down some worries.
I feel most women have been raised to be perfect: perfect mothers, perfect daughters, perfect girlfriends and wives. I tell myself that I am doing well, I cannot be perfect, that everything will be fine. I ask for guidance and light for my family, and strength to continue my path in good manner and my career in creation. I finish my prayer by lighting a candle.
*Where can people find you?
Martha Alicia / Mujer Barro
Martha Alicia’s studio in Oaxaca is full of magic and love.
Her altar in Papalutla, where she would prepare her pieces.
All photos above have been provided by Martha Alicia.
Shop Mujer Barro @ Pls Try
With any purchase of Martha Alicia’s work, you are helping fund Tierra Mariposa, providing access to the arts for the children of Santa Cruz Papalutla, Oaxaca.
Ofrenditas is a series of guardians that Martha Alicia has been working on since 2021. They are dancing beings taking care of the fire, their bodies, crops and moons.
The above photo is a sample and a new study for Martha Alicia working with the Angelino soil. Notice the cracks. Studies with new soils take time and dedication. These pieces are available upon request and can be made with white, black and red clay. Please email paige@plstry.com for more information.