7x7x7 Series: Federico Cuatlacuatl
Born in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, Federico Cuatlacuatl is an artist based in Virginia and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Virginia. Federico's work is invested in disseminating topics of Latinx immigration, social art practice, and cultural sustainability.
Photo credit: Derrick J. Waller
Building from his own experience growing up as an undocumented immigrant and previously holding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Federico’s creative practice centers on the intersectionality of indigeneity and immigration under a pressing Anthropocene, transborder indigeneity, and migrant indigenous futurisms. Federico is our fifth featured 2021 artist in our fifth 7x7x7 Series, which asks 7 questions to 7 Charlottesville artists and is published once a week for 7 weeks.
1. If you had a free afternoon in Charlottesville what would you do or where would you go?
I’ve been wanting to use my bike more and would love to do a long ride around Charlottesville, specifically local trails. The past year has been exhausting and draining, I think we can all use moments of decompressing, self-care, and these kinds of self-indulging activities that can help us move forward with our artistic practices.
2. Describe your artistic work in 7 words.
transborder indigeneity, intergenerational resiliency & strength, self-preservation, and self-rematriation
Photo credit: Derrick J. Waller
3. Who or what inspires your current work?
The experiences of my community are always inspiring me and informing my ongoing projects. It has become vital to look inward and unpack such a dense and complex historical weight we continue to endure. It is such an honor and privilege to be an artist, this inevitably is a responsibility to enact agency and to amplify our real lived experiences. The history, traditions, and culture of my hometown are constantly informing my works as an ongoing effort to deconstruct and reconstruct our very own intergenerational experiences.
Photo credit: Derrick J. Waller
4. Consider one piece you’re working on right now. Give us a snippet of your routine—from start to finish, what goes into making it?
I’m currently working on a short experimental film to be released later this year. This started with video production in my hometown in 2019, using traditional carnival regalia and two performers. On-site video production is usually very intuitive with general ideas and imagery that I have in mind. I never script a production but I’m always intentional about place, sound, symbolism, and post-production. Now with a few hours of footage that I gathered, the video gets heavily edited down to a few minutes. As I’m editing, I’m thinking about 3D animation to be integrated as well as working with a sound artist to start developing sound design according to my concepts explored in the video. The video will go through more editing until all the various components get polished – sound, animation, image quality, special effects, credits, etc. I’ll be spending a lot more hours on my desktop editing this to a final short film that can then be submitted to film festivals and other screenings.
5. What have you learned about yourself as a person through the experience of making art?
I’ve become more humbled to develop an approach that uses my personal lens in order to amplify collective experiences. I’ve learned that my work can be more impactful when it’s less focused on individualism. While it is important to bring my personal real lived experience into my work, it is more powerful to acknowledge the thousands of ongoing experiences by others in my community. On another note, I continue to learn so much from my projects as I’m continuously enacting self-anthropological approaches to the history of my hometown and our ancestors. I’m constantly uncovering bits of history buried in colonization that allows me to learn more about my community and myself.
Photo Credit: Derrick J. Waller
6. What would you like to see happen in Charlottesville to better support artists in our community?
The amount of support and reach out locally has been amazing! When I was in high school I had trouble finding the right support for my artistic aspirations. Might be great to create spaces and support for young aspiring artists since most of C’ville focuses on supporting emerging or established artists and not so much on younger underprivileged generations who often struggle and easily get discouraged. A camp, retreat, or multi-day workshops focusing on this would be amazing!
Photo Credit: Derrick J. Waller
7. What is currently on your studio/work desk?
I have a lot of notes and to-do lists laying around, always thinking that I will get to them at some point. I have a large painting that I work on very slowly and really enjoy getting back to painting from time to time. I have random video production props sitting around as I’m always experimenting with wearables and interventions for the carnival regalia that I often use in productions. I always like to keep pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds) around as a stress reliever, it’s a Puebla thing :)
Photo Credit: Derrick J. Waller
The opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the artist and do not necessarily represent the policies or positions of NCAI.
Check out Federico's work this month at Visible Records' first exhibition, Tiahue Tocha, presented by Colectivo Rasquache.
Follow Rasquache on Instagram for more ways to see Federico's work, including Rasquache Mobile Cinema, a traveling micro cinema in the form of an adult-sized tricycle retrofitted with outdoor screening and projection equipment.
This summer's series is presented by The Seven Society and features artists affiliated with the University of Virginia.
