Spaceship

"I want to be free, not brave." This is what a sign I saw during a protest in my hometown said, and it encompasses how Maria, the protagonist of Spaceship, feels. It is also how my mother felt when she had to raise me while having a professional job and demanding career at a time where it wasn’t socially approved that women worked, especially in Guadalajara Mexico where I was born and raised.

She took me to her job because there wasn’t anyone available to take care of me. Her passion and dedication to her career and family had a huge impact on me, especially her strength to pull everything together in order to raise me. I could see that she struggled although she did a very good job in hiding it. The bond I have with my mother is what is fueling this story.

The imagery and magical aspects of my culture will always be a part of who I am and what I create. Growing up in a country with such a vast array of traditions and folklore but at the same time a harsh reality with corrupt governments, poverty and criminals that slaughter and disappear people every day, has shaped me. People trying to find light in life amidst this terrible reality is where I come from: an everyday struggle between hope and despair.

Growing up in this context and being an introverted person who has deeply struggled to find a sense of belonging, I’m drawn into narratives that are hidden in plain sight or that are constantly ignored. The beauty of broken things and how they compose and connect us.

When I moved to LA, I found the Latino communities struggling with the same social strictures that prevent people back home from being who they really are. All of this cultural phenomena is constantly evolving and in the middle of that tornado, Maria, is fighting her own battle.

Spaceship explores the intimate bond of a mother-child relationship in combination with a society that invalidates Maria’s capacity for being a mother. Maria is on a quest to find a place that acknowledges her existence.

A place to call home.