Reb Mari

Monday Feb 1st at 4:30 pm, I pulled up to a house I would be staying in for the next 28 days.  I  was invited  to be part of a month-long residency.  My friend and fellow artist Anel Flores had a brilliant idea to recreate Gloria Anzaldua’s El Taller Nepantla that took place the fall of 1995 in Saratoga, California.  The new, La Otra Taller Nepantla,  would take place in the sacred land of the RGV, the Gulf Coast of Mexico, in a town that is now called Arroyo City, Tejas.

In February of 2020 Anel Flores was notified she  received the Catalyst for Change Award from NALAC and the Surdna Foundation. Anel would use the award to create a residency and unlike past residencies Anel attended, except this residency would only be open to queer BIPOC people, no fees would be required to attend and we would receive a stipend. Months before we arrived the revolutionary energy that created La Otra Taller Nepantla would be what stirred the winds that we would ride on from our homes into this collective space and time.  

Driving down Marshall Hutts Rd the first group to greet me was a flock of wild turkeys.  Those turkeys would be the first of many bird species I would come to see and know while being on these lands.  When I pulled up to the house a fellow friend of mine stepped out the door to greet me, Brandy Garcia.  Brandy would not only be here as a fellow artist using this time to create yet also would be preparing delicious and mostly vegan meals for us to share throughout the residency.  I had been nervous and excited about residency, so seeing a familiar face first thing helped to soothe those anxious vibes similar to when you see a past classmate when you walk into a new grade and room on the first day of school. I walked in looked around quickly and headed back outside to greet the water. I laid out, down on my stomach, on the newly built dock that smelled of treated wood,  and reached my hand into the cold water to say hello.  I asked for permission to be a guest on this particular patch of tierra for a little while.  

As I walked back to my car to begin unloading I flashed back to saying, “see you again soon,” to Amanda outside our home.  She looked into the back of the Rav 4 and said that it looked as if I was going to Yosemite alone for a month.  I had packed my car with clothes, camping gear, instruments, blankets, books, mosaics, tools, electronics, art supplies, a fishing road and a tackle box.  I wasn’t quite sure what I was gonna be inspired to create and wanted to be prepared for what may come.  

Shortly after I arrived all of us who would make up the taller, Las Otras,  were present:

Brandy Garcia -Denver City TX , @fantasticbrantastic

Natalie (Queen Paz) Glenn – Corpus Christi TX, @Qweenpaz

Amina – Biloxi, MS, @progressstudios

Excy – Gualcinse, Honduras, @ceiba_ili @JanynXcg @ceiba_ili

Alexandra Nichole Salazar – Pharr, TX , Jotos y Recuerdos Podcast @jotosyrecuerdospodcast

Anel I. Flores – Brownsville, TX , anelflores.com

Reb Mari – Yanawana (San Anto), TX, rebmari.com

That night we gathered on the dining room table for what would be the first of many meals together.  And,  although we started out shy, it didn’t take long for us to begin to feel comfortable and familiar with one another.  

On Tuesday a few of us took a mid morning walk into Adolph Thomae Jr County.  As we hiked, we talked about wildness survival skills, we laughed and spent many moments of deep breathing and silence from the lookout point.  That evening, via zoom, Sharon Bridgforth asked us a set of questions to dive deep and stir our waters, to help feed our projects and in turn provide inspiration for others. It made me think about how the Double-crested Cormorant hunting style not only feeds itself yet sends up fish to the surface of the sea allowing the Pelicans an opportunity to swoop down and catch a meal.  When BIPOC artists nourish themselves we are mixing up the stagnant energies and allow movement so others can travel forward and beyond. The release of our creativity ripples out and heals. Bridgforth pulled three cards from an oracle deck she had created asking “What does Divine Love want me to know right now?”  The message was: Cleanse, Dance and Cleanse.  To create a ritual of actions to propel us forward in our creative journeys and power.  Later that night on the dock I caught my first fish, a small catfish that I unhooked and returned back to the water.  

One morning Excy and I offered a few Danzas as the sun rose and later that day almost all of us spent a few hours on the beach of South Padre.  We did many things together and alone during the first week,yet I never felt rushed or overwhelmed.  We ended the week in the living room presenting projects we had been working on such as music, mosaic, songwriting, poetry, writing & mix media. Following our share was a platica with Mariana Romo-Camona who shared memories of Queer organizing on the East Coast in the 70s & 80s. Camona’s stories are inspiring and teach us to have the ganas to write/create from the emotional places we may have been procrastinating to pay a visit.  “Use the power to explode instead of using it to keep yourself in check.”  Carmona said to us. Those words shifted my paradigm of exploding from being a negative one to one of strength and necessity during the creative process. 

As I write this blog I am filled and fueled with deep emotions of comradity, one that feels extra special due to the isolated lives we have all been living during this current global pandemic.  I know that Gloria and all our ancestors are looking at us smiling from the bright burning stars we can see at night.  I want to offer up gratitude to all of those who got us here, our partners, families, teachers, friends & community.  Thank you, Gracias, Ometeotl  – Reb Mari