Los rastros que dejamos – The traces we leave

Members of the Food Art Research Network and groups connected to Cocina CoLaboratorio gathered in Xochimilco for a day of action and reflection. The day began with questions about our roles as artists and researchers working within communities as outsiders, and as participants in shared social and ecological metabolisms. Walking through the streets, we observed how water systems, plant life and urban development shape the territory. Guided by Gabriela Alejandra Morales Valdelamar, we travelled by boat through the canals, grounding ourselves in the landscape before arriving at Chinampa Tlazoltéotl, where we took part in Tequio—collective labour as a practice of care and reciprocity with land and community.

Following this, we were hosted for lunch at Chinampa Amapola del Sabor by Elvira Valle Santana and the Amapola del Sabor women’s collective, whose work centres on defending the Xochimilco territory through cultivation, harvesting and exchange. The afternoon continued with “Digesting the Territory,” a tea ceremony and conversation structured around three phases—“lo propio,” “lo ajeno” and “lo posible”—proposed by Emilio Hernández Martínez. Through shared teas made from local and non-local plants, participants reflected on their practices, concerns and the possibilities for instituting otherwise.

Discussions addressed the role of art and curatorial practice within contested territories, exploring tensions between rural and urban conditions, ancestral knowledge and contemporary systems, and spectacle and process. Participants exchanged experiences, failures and aspirations, acknowledging the complexity of working relationally after modernity. The gathering brought together a wide network of cultural platforms and practitioners, fostering dialogue grounded in place, care and collective learning.

Cultural and curatorial platforms that joined: Chinampa Amapola del Sabor Chinampa Tlazoltéotl Cocina Colaboratorio, Duapla Molcajete, Hawapi, Food Art Research Network, Study Pattern Collective, What Could Should Curating Do?

With: Mariana Martinez Balvanera, Michelle Buerba, Biljana Ciric, Madeleine Collie, Grace Gloria Denis, Rubén Garay, Maxim Holland, Zoë Heyn Jones, Emilio Hernández Martínez, Diego Astorga-De-Ita, Gabriela Alejandra Morales Valdelamar, Adriana Cadena Roa, Beatriz Paz, Susie Quillinan, Alessandro Valerio Zamora, Elvira Valle Santana