“Where My Belly Button is Buried / Donde enterraron mi ombligo”
This series of images and manipulated photo objects are the start of a personal process of healing from the suffering of colonization, in which photography is a ritual to explore the role of women and motherhood in my community, my relationship with my roots, territories, and migration movements. In this practice, I direct the feminine energy to heal these wounds, to revive in my tongue the language of my ancestors, to understand and keep the ancestral knowledge, to encourage my people to appreciate our heritage and feel proud of our origins. Each stitch, scratch, and brushstroke is an act of resistance, a reaffirmation of my existence, that sustains my connections to my family, community, and land. Creating this body of work is a curative ritual to explore the different elements that shaped my duxherha (the whole, body, spirit, and soul), to bury my fears, and sow strength for the ones coming. In each piece I insert elements of my culture and family history – a thread, a plant, a seed, a tree, charged with different meanings – to link the stories of my ancestors. In this way each object tells their story for those who look under the surface.
Nido de serpiente. The place we came from. Polaroid lift emulsion and ink 2018
The thread that connects our stories
Photo and embroidery 2021
My mom told me that when a baby was born in Yalalag, our ancestors carefully cover their placenta and umbilical cord in a clean piece of cloth and buried them in their patio houses, covering them with a palm hat. The ritual represents the roots of the newborn being planted, reinforcing their connections with the land and community. In an offering, we are part of the land, and the land is part of us. We are part of something bigger.
I used embroidery to link the stories of my ancestors. I used the same thread in all my embroidery pieces, this one was entangled by my mom and my grandmother to hold my traditional necklace and Yalalag cross, which was a gift from my great grandmother Juana, depicted in this piece.
Photo and embroidery 2021
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program
Notes about my mother. My mom and grandma intertwined stories.
Tu palabra vive en mis sueños como tormenta estruendosa forma rios de memorias que florecen en la nueva vida.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype. 2017
Somos tierra - We are earth
Polaroid Emulsion Lift and Ink
A personal process of healing, where photography turned into a part of the rituals, to define my relationship with my roots.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program 2021
Sisterhood
Stitch, stitch, stitch to heal... to write our history.
My sister and I are part of a generation of Yalaltecos who were born away from our motherland. Migration with the aim of achieving a better life is nothing new. As humans, we have the right to migrate.
Although in this process is difficult to don’t be hurt by racism and colonisation practices, we will resist.
Photo and embroidery 2019
Duxherha yoochau xtaullo ka
Honouring my ancestors.
Self-portrait and embroidery
August 2021
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program Photo and embroidery 2021
Xtaullo ka, a mis ancestras, por ellas somos, de ellas soy.
Cada puntada, es un acto de resistencia, de reafirmación, testigo del decreto que mi madre pronuncio del eco de sus memorias: - Volarás, porque yo seré el viento en tus alas de águila.
This series of images and manipulated photo objects are the start of a personal process of healing from the suffering of colonization, in which photography is a ritual to explore the role of women in my community.
In this piece, I'm reunited with my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in our homeland, a sacred copal tree represents the past and future members of our family.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program 2021
Grandma's family tree
Hand-manipulated ambrotype
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program
Self-portrait
A germinated seed and the Zapotec names of my grandparents.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program. 2021
La limpia, instructions to clean a soul.
From time to time, my mom and I practice a cleanness ritual, to sweep accumulated energies out of our bodies, to return them back to the earth. It is our intimate practice to heal those invisible wounds and to keep a strong spirit.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype. Mexico. 2018
Ancestral energy
Wet Plate Collodion
When the earthquake.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype
Nido de serpiente. The place we came from. Polaroid lift emulsion and ink 2018
The thread that connects our stories
Photo and embroidery 2021
My mom told me that when a baby was born in Yalalag, our ancestors carefully cover their placenta and umbilical cord in a clean piece of cloth and buried them in their patio houses, covering them with a palm hat. The ritual represents the roots of the newborn being planted, reinforcing their connections with the land and community. In an offering, we are part of the land, and the land is part of us. We are part of something bigger.
I used embroidery to link the stories of my ancestors. I used the same thread in all my embroidery pieces, this one was entangled by my mom and my grandmother to hold my traditional necklace and Yalalag cross, which was a gift from my great grandmother Juana, depicted in this piece.
Photo and embroidery 2021
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program
Notes about my mother. My mom and grandma intertwined stories.
Tu palabra vive en mis sueños como tormenta estruendosa forma rios de memorias que florecen en la nueva vida.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype. 2017
Somos tierra - We are earth
Polaroid Emulsion Lift and Ink
A personal process of healing, where photography turned into a part of the rituals, to define my relationship with my roots.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program 2021
Sisterhood
Stitch, stitch, stitch to heal... to write our history.
My sister and I are part of a generation of Yalaltecos who were born away from our motherland. Migration with the aim of achieving a better life is nothing new. As humans, we have the right to migrate.
Although in this process is difficult to don’t be hurt by racism and colonisation practices, we will resist.
Photo and embroidery 2019
Duxherha yoochau xtaullo ka
Honouring my ancestors.
Self-portrait and embroidery
August 2021
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program Photo and embroidery 2021
Xtaullo ka, a mis ancestras, por ellas somos, de ellas soy.
Cada puntada, es un acto de resistencia, de reafirmación, testigo del decreto que mi madre pronuncio del eco de sus memorias: - Volarás, porque yo seré el viento en tus alas de águila.
This series of images and manipulated photo objects are the start of a personal process of healing from the suffering of colonization, in which photography is a ritual to explore the role of women in my community.
In this piece, I'm reunited with my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in our homeland, a sacred copal tree represents the past and future members of our family.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program 2021
Grandma's family tree
Hand-manipulated ambrotype
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program
Self-portrait
A germinated seed and the Zapotec names of my grandparents.
Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation, Photography and Social Justice Program. 2021
La limpia, instructions to clean a soul.
From time to time, my mom and I practice a cleanness ritual, to sweep accumulated energies out of our bodies, to return them back to the earth. It is our intimate practice to heal those invisible wounds and to keep a strong spirit.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype. Mexico. 2018
Ancestral energy
Wet Plate Collodion
When the earthquake.
Hand-manipulated ambrotype
Citlali Fabián
Citlali Fabián is a Mexican visual artist and storyteller who uses photography to explore ways of addressing identity and its connections with territory, migration, and community bonds.