Fanel Reyes is a Oaxacan based ceramacist and artist that Stampworthy has worked with and had many pieces in her shop from.
Manifesto of the Gunaa
These pieces are an approach to the experiences of migrant women across the borders of the USA and Mexico, who face multiple and serious sexual abuse/ rape by traffickers, cartel members, police, migration agents and even other migrants. Some ways to protect themselves are using drugs to prevent STDs and avoid pregnancy. But there is no way to escape the trafficking and sexual exploitation, as well as the emotional and psychological consequences of these terrifying experiences. Pursuing the “american dream” is, in the majority of cases, a torture if you are a woman.
But there is also a very important counterpart: the strength and hope of migrant women, seeking the well-being of their family, preserving their mother tongues and keeping alive the traditions they inherited from their ancestors.
This contrast runs through their lives and re-signifies them.
These pieces also represent that, her strength and her voice.
Fanel participated in an installation of black clay vulvas called “Gunaa” (gunaa ' means “woman” in Diidxazá, a variant of Zapotec in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) in Carbondale Arts in Colorado.
Identity and Libertad explores the issues about identity and freedom for those who are Spanish-speaking immigrants as well as those native to the United states yet are presumed, because of their heritage, to be undocumented immigrants.
Fanel reached out to Stampworthy to share these pieces in our shop collection, and we are honored to carry her beautiful pieces and share the stories of her work.
All Gunaa's include free shipping. Each piece is one of a kind and has slight variation.
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Esta pieza es un acercamiento a las experiencias de las mujeres migrantes en las fronteras de EUA y México, quienes se enfrentan a múltiples y graves abusos de parte de traficantes de personas, miembros de carteles, policías, agentes de migración e incluso otros migrantes. Algunas formas de protegerse es usando medicamentos para prevenir las enfermedades de transmisión sexual y usar métodos anticonceptivos para evitar embarazos. Pero no hay forma de escapar de la trata y explotación sexual de muchas de ellas, así como las secuelas emocionales y psicológicas producto de estas terribles experiencias. Perseguir el sueño americano es, en muchos casos, una tortura si eres mujer.
Pero también existe una contraparte importantísima: la fuerza y esperanza de las mujeres migrantes, buscando el bienestar de su familia, conservando sus lenguas maternas y manteniendo vivas las tradiciones que heredaron de sus ancestras.
Este contraste atraviesa sus vidas y las resignifica.
Estas piezas también representan eso, su fortaleza y su voz.
