Tres Graces de La Acequia

I have referenced one of Pablo Picasso’s Three Women At The Spring paintings in my celebration of three women of three different continents (Africa, Europe, the Americas) who represent the diverse and millennia old roots of the Acequia system. The Spanish woman in the foreground represents the bridge between the ancient acequia system that the Moors implemented in Spain and that of the Pueblos that the Spanish Colonialists later encountered in the Americas. The three women will are symbolic of the life giving, nurturing, and feminine dimension of acequias— and also the role that women have played in their custodianship of waterways and springs in general. They also symbolize the sharing & solidarity inherent in acequia law. 

In the piece, I have layered a Jean Cocteau Cinema flyer for Suspira; several Honey Mama’s chocolate wrappers; Sai Baba incense boxes; wild sardine boxes from Spain; an empty box of New Mexico potter’s clay; Mother’s Pride packaging from India; an Evolve Paintbrush package; an empty cathedral style candle votive box; a laundry bag from an Istanbul hotel; Nicholas Herrera’s invitation to his retrospective at Harwood Museum in Taos; some Cuban Cigar sleeves; pages from an old 1902 Sears Catalog offering shovels for sale; a ticket from a Picasso show in Italy; a torn poster for a Buenos Aires musical; Mexican Loteria cards; an empty Life cereal box; a Topo Chico water box; a Yjastros American Flamenco Academy Repertory invitation from Albuquerque; and more…