I received a scholarship and along with it I felt came some responsibility. As the first recipient of the Anna Mendieta Memorial Scholarship, I felt inclined to explore her work and make a few pieces in memorial to her life and work. I worked in a similar style to hers and visited and worked in similar locations. I created a ceramic comal in Oxaca on a remote beach. The comal is what tortillas are cooked on and considered a symbol of women. In ancient times salt was collected in comals from evaporated sea water. I made a comal in the shape of a woman, pit fired it on the beach and filled it with sea water. I had been told about a Cuban ritual/belief that if a person dies a violent death they become a spirit trapped on earth. The way to release the spirit is to fill a container with salt water set it in a window over night and in the morning pour it out, telling the spirit that it came move on.
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