Not the First Nor the Last
Not the First Nor the Last is a community drawing performance that addresses the challenges of our role as stewards of family memory. Participants are asked to write the names of ancestors and of existing family members on large sheets of paper attached to both sides of their bodies, causing distortions that transform the words into ever-more abstracted marks. While the illegibility of the writing documents our inability to own the past, it also expresses the need and obligation to pass on the intangible memory of our ancestors.
Performed March 24, 2022 at the IMAS Museum in McAllan, Texas for the opening of Uncovered Spaces. Participants include: Kathy Bussert-Webb, Lilia Cabrera, Alondra Cruz, Dee Danielson, John Danielson, Christen Garcia, Lourdes Garcia, Gabriela Garza, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Rocio Guerrero, Stephanie Hauser, Jackie Moran, Zoe Peña, Adilene Rosales, Cecilia Sierra, and Mandy Wilson. Supported by the Center for Latin American Arts at UTRGV. Photographs by Carlos Lima.