IDENTIDAD DE HUMO
multimedia installation, performance, 4k video, spanish w/english subtitles, flame sensor, candles, 2026
Identidad
de Humo is a multimedia installation grounded in Mexica cosmogony
and the teachings of Tezcatlipoca, the Smoking Mirror, where
perception is understood as the smoke of that which is, in essence,
Consciousness.
The
work unfolds as a living portrait in which the artist voluntarily
embodies Coatlicue, encountering her ancestors through somatic
practice initiated by spiritual work with the obsidian mirror. Coatlicue, the monumental
volcanic stone figure, represents the Earth’s simultaneous forces
of creation and destruction. As the body moves toward becoming a
monolith, its fractures persist, exposing the colonial wound that
runs through identity.
Through
this process, the work revisits Coatlicue within the context of
colonial modernity. After its discovery in 1790 in New Spain, the
sculpture was repeatedly buried and exhumed, made visible only
through a colonial gaze.
Activated
once each day, the installation begins when the artist lights a
series of candles placed throughout the space. The final candle is
positioned before a flame sensor, triggering the video loop. On
screen, the body appears suspended between solidity and volatility.
Operating as a contemporary smoking mirror, the installation presents
identity as transitory, fragmented, and historically mediated.
Credits
Concept, Direction, Performance, Generative Visuals & Editing: Alejandra Montoya
On-Set Direction: Matthias Julian Wörz
Sound & Mix: Florian Bocksrucker
✦
Currently on view 8th - 17th of May 2026 at the Feministische Zentrum für Migrant*innen,
Heinrichstraße 20C, 10317 Berlin
Public program:
Saturday 16.05.2026, 18:30 – 20:00
Guest Artist Presentation: 'Middle Woman: A conversation about art practice as a bridge of manifestation' by Ana Vera
From a spiritual point of view, art has always been linked to religion and spirituality but in the contemporary art world this perspective isn't necessarily so. Whether we create art from a social justice or personal and emotional perspective, art can always trace us back to spirit if we follow the thread of the heart. As an art practitioner and spiritual seeker, Ana Vera shares from her own life experience and artistic practice, how she came to perceive the spiritual in how she creates art as well as how she lives her own life.
Sunday 17.05.2026, 16:00
Finissage
Guided Tour through Identidad de Humo with Alejandra Montoya
A conversation around the installation, it’s process, symbolism and the themes of identity, spirituality and decolonization explored throughout the work.