600 kg


600 kg, 2021
Black obsidian
60 x 46 x 83 cm
Stone extracted by Alejandro Catelán at the Sierra de las Navajas



Obsidian is classified by mineralogy as glass, since its atoms do not make up a crystalline structure; it is hard and fragile, with an attractive luster, transparent and translucent, but its main characteristic is its straight and sharp type of fracture. Invoking both the fragility and the hardness of obsidian, 600kg is a one-piece-stone of more than half a ton hanging from a ceiling. Behind the simplicity of the action, lies a rather complex process of extraction, transportation and treatment of the material which represents a challenge among the mining industry. This exercise is conceived as a paradoxical action where chains and tackles contain a material that proposes a glance of the destruction caused by the techniques, processes and methods used to extract this mineral. Yet, it also suggests the rawness of the material and the artisan labour that must be put into it, in order to remain an important economic activity.

AUTODEFENSA


Self-defense (collaboration with Julieta Gil), 2019
Black obsidian
27 x 18 x 15 cm



Obsidian stone has been deeply involved with spiritual practices. It’s shiny constitution and deep black colour has converted it into the symbol of Tezcatlipoca —an ancestral deity creator of the universe in the Mexica society—whose most representative shield is an obsidian magic mirror which radiates a smoke capable of defeating his enemies.  Taking this narrative as a standpoint, Autodefensa (Self defense) is a series of sculptures of spiked contemporary weapons –such as rifles, knives, axes– made with obsidian that try to preserve the protecting condition of the material, while simultaneously making a comment upon the contemporary use of armament. These series of weapons were sculpted with an absolute lack of ergonomics, making them hard to be held and managed; as if they were protecting themselves from themselves. These objects are both a seductive series of artifacts that don't pose the threat of physical harm, and yet a glorification of the object and its symbolic value, which aims to recover the spiritual and magical condition of artillery.

^{Material Art Fair / Janet 40}

MIRRORS

Mirros, 2020
Black Obsidian
20 x 20 x 28 cm


Due to its physical qualities, obsidian was perhaps the most important raw material for ancient Mesoamericans. To this day, obsidian mirrors represent an important income in Teotihuacán and La Sierra de las Navas, being one of the best-selling products. The simplicity of their round shape, yet the brightness of the material makes it one of the most representative insignia of pre-Hispanic spirituality, materiality and worldview. Poetically, obsidian mirrors have a suitable metaphor for images; they reflect the observer and the object at the same time.


Mirrors is an exercise that examines the methodology in which these objects are produced:  medium-sized stones are extracted and then subjected to a punching process that results in cylindrical pieces, which are lapped later to obtain around fifteen mirrors. For this work, Ana works with the remains and the excess of the extraction process, so as to reflect on the automatization of the procedure.  In the form of a sculptural installation, Mirrors is a series of hollow obsidian cylinders disposed in the space modularly that allow different combinations that create an architectural space.  The methodology of the installation seeks to alter a serial production process to examine the possibility and scope of reconfiguration of the form, but not the matter.

OBSIDIAN PULSE


Obsidian PULSE (in collaboration with Julieta Gil), 2019
Installation - Obsidian stone + Video HD (4:30 min)
10 x 7 x 5 cm c/u - 60 pieces



The ritual of human sacrifice was a very widespread practice in Mesoamerica. In the Mexica society it was embedded in the belief of Tezcatlipoca—creator of the earth, the sky and the inferior world, always invisible and simultaneously present at all times. During the period of heat and drought, when the lack of water and excess of sun could carry famish among the population, a young man was selected to be sacrificed. The ritual consisted of cutting his heart out with an obsidian spearhead. Echoing the ritual impulse, Obsidian Pulse is a video installation comprised by a series of heart-shaped-sculptures disposed in a digital underworld of sorts. The relationship between the stone and the
three-dimensional digital world aims to open up a space where a contemporary world collides with a mythical ritual. The hearts turned into stone seem also to beat, linger and change its shape. The video aims to shed light upon antique processes and rituals that became strange and unnatural after colonization, but that when created, contain the potentiality of something as magical as changing the weather.

                       

INFRAMUNDO

Underworld, 2019
Black obsidian
30 x 30 x 10 cm



Amidst the Mexica society cosmovision, the universe was divided and organised through two levels: a vertical and a horizontal one. While the first one was composed of the overworld and the underworld, —where land was conceived as a departure point to either ascend or descend—; the horizontal one, had the ability to traverse and connect both terrains. Inframundo  is a sculpture that aims to inhabit the two worlds. It invokes the mythological journey to Mictlan  —or the Aztec underworld— which consisted of a long trip for dead people comprising nine levels full of obstacles in order to achieve eternal rest. Distinctly, one of the levels consists of an obsidian mountain that must be crossed. The sculpture conjures a long and dangerous journey embedded in the simplicity of an object that, for a moment, is capable of containing the mystery of afterlife.