Blanka Amezkua
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel: Blanka, I first heard about you in connection to the Blue Room Project in the Bronx. Can you tell me how you are (I really mean asking this question and I can handle an honest response from you beyond fine and okay), and then talk in detail about the initiative just mentioned?
Blanka Amezkua: Why can’t the brain, which is such a marvellous, intricate, superb instrument, why can’t it solve our human agony, misery and chaos? It is because we are always trying to answer it by thought, which is the past. Quote by Jiddu Krishnamurti online, From a Students Talk, Madras (Chennai), 9 January 1970.
You ask how I am...I began my morning by reading this quote by the great Jiddu Krishnamurti. And he’s absolutely correct. We must definitely pull from the past but it’s in the present that we must discern and act. I am reflecting on his quote as I am sitting in my living room in Mott Haven where with the help of so many artists, friends, community/cultural organizations, infinite family support I initiated the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP) back in 2008. The apartment christened as a “liberated domestic space” by playwright friend Virginia Grise, welcomed so many people, for so many years. The exhibition space indeed was inside my bedroom and it was painted blue. It was an artist-run space where invited artists took over my bedroom for an entire month and during that month in addition to exhibiting their work, artists were invited to share a meal for about 20 people, a meal often cooked by the artist. Certainly, this was a project that invited experimentation, community gatherings in an unconventional space, BBBP was open to the general public, but above all the project was about sharing.
NDEREOM: Why blue? Why the Bronx? What brought you to this borough? I grew up in a blue bedroom in the Caribbean and ended up using one narrow and long wall to paint burning fire. I am not sure why I did this, but I needed this element near me in a visual and symbolic way.
BA: Why blue? I suppose I also needed blue in a symbolic way…That was Sebastian’s favorite color, my nephew who was tragically killed by a DUI teenager in California in December of 2007. Why the Bronx? When I moved to NYC in 2003, the first job I found was working in a quirky shop, La SIRENA, owned by my now friend Dina Leor, a Jewish Argentinean/New Yorker lover of everything Mexican, so much so that her partner is even Mexican! She created such a unique shop jam-packed with Latin American crafts, mostly Mexican folk art; it’s as special ofrenda in the Lower East Side. I met so many people working there, the singer from Gogol Bordello bought his Virgen de Guadalupe t-shirts at La Sirena. Phillip Glass lives almost in front of the shop. It was such a special place, it still is! One day, the principal of a Jesuit middle school on Manida Street stopped by and bought a Che Guevara bag and we talked a bit as she perused through the shop. Turns out she was looking for a teaching artist for her summer camp program in Hunts Point. She suggested I applied for the position. I did and I got the job! After the summer camp was over, I was hired as a full time art teacher and that’s how and why I moved to the Bronx in 2005.
NDEREOM: I am very sorry about Sebastian’s death. It makes sense to honer this being though color. Regarding the Bronx, that is also where I got my first job in the United States. I was hired by La Peninsula Community Organization in Hunts Point, founded by Martha J. Watford.
You talk about Mexico, and so I would like to ask about your work with papel picado. Can you explain some of the histories/herstories/theirstories of this art form and how this became part of your creative language?
BA: I am formally trained as a painter. But with time, I’ve become an interdisciplinary artist. I’ve worked with textiles, pipecleaners, paper, canvas and paint, and my work has been heavily inspired by comic books and many traditional/folk art techniques. I arrived at papel picado by accident or need. During the politically challenging years we faced from 2016-2020, I began creating large scale collages using exclusively festive papers such as confetti, tissue shapes , streamers, quilling paper and papel picado. The social polarization was really getting the best of so many of us. So, I dove into paper and color. Not as a way to negate reality, but rather to contest it. And since I began incorporating papel picado in these large paper collages I felt the need to understand how it was made. Papel picado has such a prominent presence during my favorite Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos, that I wanted to understand how these beautifully crafted banners were made. In 2018 a Youtube, bendito Youtube, search led me to a city in Puebla called San Salvador Huixcolotla, which happens to be the cradle for this unique paper cutting technique. It was there that by pure luck I encountered don Rene Mendoza, the artist that would become my papel picado maestro.
NDEREOM: Puebla is a dear place to me. I have been there several times and have good friends in town such as Cristobal Miranda, a prolific creative. Tell me about your teachers and about your own teachings.
BA: Too many teachers to list! I've had countless teachers who have enriched my life in so many ways. Some have offered lessons in formal settings, while others reveal their wisdom informally and even later. And not all teachers are human. These days, my plants teach me profound lessons about life. It's awe-inspiring to grasp how a humble seed, when mixed with soil and water, can grow into a perfect plant—sometimes nourishing, sometimes not; the never-ending mystery of life after all. But still, it’s a perfect natural construction. I was fortunate to have taught art in three different Jesuit middle schools in NYC, which gave me firsthand insight into the city’s history, its urban planning and demographics. It was through this experience that I discovered that the uniqueness and richness of New York City lies in its incredible and inimitable diversity.
As a child, I lived with my paternal grandmother in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Now, I teach art to senior citizens through the SU-CASA program across the city, mainly in the Bronx. I love helping seniors rediscover their creativity and realize how much they still have to offer. And the lessons they’ve shared about their struggles and resilience are by far greater lessons for me, than anything I could ever teach them.
NDEREOM: New York. New York. What can I say about our city! What are the lineages that inform your artwork and teaching? I know that you have roots in Mexico and on the West Coast of the United States.
BA: My parents from Michoacán, Mexico, come from large rural families that were very connected to the land. My father has eight sisters and three brothers. My mother has five sisters and four brothers; most have migrated within Mexico and a handful to the United States.
The feminine presence, touch, and concern have always been central in my work. I often feel a responsibility to reflect some aspect of what it means to be an immigrant woman in this world. More than just a responsibility, I’m deeply sensitive to this experience because it has fundamentally shaped my own reality. I am a bicultural woman, almost tricultural, married to Leonidas for nearly 25 years. I was born in Mexico City and immigrated to South Central, LA at the tender age of 5. At ten, I returned to Mexico to live with my paternal grandparents, and at sixteen, I returned to California.
My work is informed by the work of so many artists, so many ways of understanding and being in the world both in Mexico and the USA, Latin America and many other parts of the world. From the first artist I ever met, Guillermina Dulché who was my next door neighbor in Cuernavaca and Rufino Tamayo, was the padrino of my Jr. High class in Cuernavaca. I have been extremely blessed. The chicano artists in CA that influenced and inspired me directly, my first painting professor in college the late Ernie Palomino, the wonderful Patricia Rodriguez, and the amazing and incomparable Amalia Mesa-Bains, I hold them all dearly close to my heart. I have been touched by all the work I have been exposed to in the many places I’ve called home; I’ve been influenced by the streets/galleries/museums/cultural venues in Mexico, California and everything in between and now in NYC. The cultural energy in the Bronx is something you understand if you live, love and breath here, otherwise, you’ll never get it!
NDEREOM: I will say again, no place like the Bronx. One central element in the work that you generated at Hispanic Society as part of a fellowship organized by visionary Alexander Campos–in which both of us participated individually–was the Cruz-Badiano Codex. I would like to hear more about this publication and how it influenced your ideas.
BA: One day, while waiting for Dr. Marcus Burke, someone I worked closely during my residency at the Hispanic Society, I saw a book titled An Aztec Herbal on his bookshelf. It caught my attention because I had never read such a title, so I brought it down and I quickly realized that it was the Codex de la Cruz-Badiano. I knew of the Badiano from a special edition published by Arqueologia Mexicana in 2013 that I purchased in Mexico but I had never heard of An Aztec Herbal. So I was intrigued. The Codex de la Cruz-Badiano, also known as the Libellus de medicinalibus indorum herbis (Libro sobre las hierbas medicinales de los pueblos indígenas or Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians) is a beautiful book, adorned by 185 illustrations of medicinal plants. It contains Nahua medicinal recipes compiled by Indigenous scholars of the College of Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco, written by Nahua physician Martín de la Cruz and translated by another indigenous scholar, Juan Badiano. The book was completed in the summer of 1552, as the region recovered from the most devastating outbreak of the century, the cocoliztli of 1545, and the ensuing mumps outbreak of 1550.
As you can well remember, we were invited by the wonderful Alex Campos, who had the brilliant idea to welcome us to the museum during such difficult times. It was a perfectly timed gift. Having experienced Covid-19 on March 2020 while living in South Bronx, location that became the epicenter of the pandemic in the USA, it was extremely challenging for us. With all the bad news pouring from everywhere, they were hard times for everyone. From day one, I realized that the only way to heal was to resort to natural medicine, in this case drinking plenty of medicinal teas and resting. This is precisely what I did. And I was doing all this, I was reminded of my paternal grandmother, Aurora, who always had a tea for any malady; her natural herb garden was our pharmacy after all. Therefore, the codex entered my life in the precise moment, as the entire world was going through a pandemic, and we were all desperately finding ways to heal. I have been working with the beautiful illustrations in the book and creating my own work. As I work with the illustrations, I'm also learning about the remedies described and discovering how many are still in use today. Thanks to the indigenous communities that have preserved these medicinal plants and practices, many of these plants continue to thrive—otherwise, this knowledge could have been lost. Isn’t that how everything in life works? When you care for something, it endures; neglect it, and it fades away.
NDEREOM: There has been so much historical arrogance in terms of not accepting non-European wisdom and knowledge as valid. I am glad that there is a shift happening. Háblame de Hierbitas de Saberes, as well as of some of the flowers, herbs and remedies of the lands that once extended from what is called Mexico today into the occupied territory that is defined as the United States. What are some of the plants that are family to you? My family includes Mullein, Plantain (as in Llantén), and Palm trees, among others. Interestingly, Plantain (as in Llantén) was brought by the European colonizers, yet I do love this being for its healing properties.
BA: Plants, how they heal and nourish us, don’t they? Lately, I’ve been reflecting a lot on flowers and their healing properties. For example the flower known in Mexico as the flor de pericón, or tagetes lucida, is a marigold plant with several uses. It is used as a medicine, dye, and in religious ceremonies. Pericón is used to treat ailments, such as the common cold, intestinal gas, diarrhea, colic, and digestive problems. It has been used medicinally since pre-Hispanic times. In Nahuatl it is known as yauhtli, or herb of the clouds. Besides its great medicinal value it plays a great role in ritual. In ancient times it was associated with the rain god Tlaloc because it sprouted with the first rains. And I am thinking of this one specifically because it was recently gathered to be used in the festival of Saint Michael, the Archangel, September 28. On the eve of Saint Michael’s Day, September 28, people make crosses of pericón and hang them on their doors, windows to make sure the chamuco, or devil, stays out. And this crosses stay there until the next year. So it’s common to see these pericon crosses in all their stages from being very green and lush until they dry up. In the installation I created last year in Arkansas, Hierbitas de Saberes / Tiny Herbs of Knowledge, curated by the incredible Lucas Cowen, I incorporated various medicinal flowers from the Codex de la Cruz-Badiano. My goal was to highlight the healing power of nature and encourage people in that region to reconsider the natural resources available to them for healing their bodies.
NDEREOM: Marigold or Clavel/Flor de Muertos, how we call it in the Dominican Republic is one of the plants I so much love. I enjoy its presence, its smell and its colors. When I was a child, we had a garden full of them.
I understand that your apartment in Mott Heaven still serves as a gallery. You introduced me to Devin Osorio, a gentle soul, during their exhibition at your space. How does this locus function at the moment and where would you like it to go and to take you?
BA: As Mercedes Sosa beautifully reminds us always, CAMBIA TODO CAMBIA, what a gorgeous song verdad? My apartment has been used for many purposes. First and foremost it’s my refuge but it hasn’t been used as a traditional domestic space since I moved in. Thanks to the support and collaboration of so many friends, community, neighbors and local cultural organizations, my bedroom housed the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project for two years 2008-2010 and from 2016-2024 my living room was the site for AAA3A, Alexander Avenue Apartment 3A, the acronym for my actual address in Mott Haven, South Bronx. After existing as artist-run spaces/projects, and everything that that beautifully entailed, thanks to the support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation the space is transforming once more. I am happy to say that since May, we finally have a sofa in the apartment and it is becoming my art studio; but we are also gestating AAA3A/migrates, and I cannot wait to share more information about this new initiative and to begin collaborating with others in 2025.
NDEREOM: I admire creatives like you, who do not wait for institutions to make things happen for them. More and more creatives like these are needed now, at a time when Art has been so thoroughly monetized and, while still talking of issues of gender, race, class…is so complicit with the same systems that it seeks to debunk. I am a big proponent that I do not need to operate exclusively within Art to do my work. I have no questions.
BA: Gracias querido! I agree with you wholeheartedly…this is the reason why I have admired and followed the work you do closely and others that don’t wait for things to happen. I believe that in the heart of the matter, what we need to emphasize and highlight is that what we are all doing, all cultural workers, artists, organizations, museums every single cultural entity is providing an experience. And those cultural experiences can and should happen everywhere! Resources also must be provided so that in fact, those experiences are crafted the way they need to be presented in ways that leave lasting memories and/or have transformative effects within communities. So as independent artists, how do we access the resources to make sure this takes place? I believe, each individual artist has the obligation to find allies to materialize these ideas and to not give up on the first no. The house has many windows and doors to be open, we must insist and persist.
NDEREOM: How was working with Alexander Campos? This is a person I have known for decades and who has been here for me through thick and thin. Alex, was central to our path through the Hispanic Society, an institution I saw as isolated from its communities and inaccessible. My view of this place shifted some as I got to spend time with its wonderful curators and staff. Many of them went out of the way to support my pilgrimage from the South Bronx to their organization. How was your time there?
BA: I met Alex when he was Executive Director at the Center for Book Arts. My work was included in There Goes My Hero, in 2009. A wonderful show curated by the unforgettable Erin Riley-Lopez, then Associate Curator, The Bronx Museum of the Arts. Alex and I remained in touch since then. The idea of inviting us to the Hispanic Society during the time he did was transformative to my practice. I mean, I discovered the Aztec Herbal or Codex de la Cruz-Badiano once more and I intend to work with this incisive medicinal book for many years to come. Everyone at the Hispanic Society was extremely generous, Dr. Marcus Burke, offered a wealth of advice and taught me so much regarding art/history in New Mexico that I intend to visit NM one day thanks to his experience. Dr. Margaret Connors McQuade included my work in the Tertulias de Arte Hispano on Papel Picado concerning the traditional Mexican paper cutting technique. Dr. Noemi Espinosa offered a hand and helped me access documentation during the entire residency. I will forever be grateful to have entered the Hispanic Society to experience amazing art pieces in their amazing collection first hand, to have been in a wonderful cohort of artists, you included, and to see art that has inspired so many generations of artists.
NDEREOM: Apapachos with sliced semi-ripped orange mangos sprinkled with red chili powder.
BA: ¿Qué comes que adivinas? That is one of my favorite snacks, mango con chile piquín. ¡Gracias por la oportunidad de compartir y nos vemos muy, muy pronto y muchos apapachos para ti también! BESOTE!!!!
All images courtesy of Blank Amezkua
Blanka Amezkua’s links: Website / Instagram / Facebook / email
Blanka Amezkua is a Mexican-born/Latinx American immigrant interdisciplinary artist, cultural promoter, educator, and project creator based in Mott Haven, South Bronx. Formally trained as a painter, her creative practice is greatly influenced and informed by folk art and popular culture, from papel picado to comic books. She combines traditional and contemporary art practices and techniques, as well as sociocultural-based mythologies and philosophies as a way to preserve evidence of the past, not for sentimental reasons, but as a form of nourishment for the creative spirit of the present.
Her current project involves research she began at the Hispanic Society in 2021, expanded at Wave Hill in 2022, built further at Lost and Found Lab in Cos Cob during her residency in January 2023 and continued developing during the most recent residency at LMCC’s Workspace Program, 2023-2024. She is invested in the ways in which we re-indigenize our own practices as artists. What are the tools of survival we inherit from our ancestors and their traditions? What can they teach us, not only about how we make work, but how we move in the world and how we share and create space?
With exhibitions at MoMA/P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, The Bronx Museum, Queens Museum, El Museo del Barrio, El Taller Boricua, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, San Diego Art Institute, Wave Hill Public Garden & Cutlural Center, the Mission Cultural Center, Galeria La Encantada, the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Art Base in Brussels among others. In 2008 she began an artist-run project in her bedroom called the Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP), which ran from 2008-2010. Blanka operated AAA3A(Alexander Avenue Apartment 3A) an alternative artist-run space which offered food, dialogue, workshops, and art in her living room from 2016-2024. AAA3A is currently becoming AAA3A/migrates. She is an active member of Running for Ayotzinapa 43, an international community of runners based in NYC that promotes dialogue and consciousness concerning human rights violations worldwide.
Mentions of her work and projects can be found in various notable national and international publications.