Cog•nate Collective, Tianquitzli: Portraits of the Market at Institute of Contemporary Art North

by Patricia Frischer

Amy Sanchez Arteaga & Misael Diaz

Cog•nate Collective’s is Amy Sanchez Arteaga & Misael Diaz and they are real people who get ideas, which they play off each other and put into their art practice. One of the ideas that interested them was Pleiades AKA the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology, who were the seven daughters of Atlas, a Titan who held up the sky, and the oceanid Pleione, protectress of sailing. This constellation is a star cluster which means they were born at the same time from a large cloud of gas and dust. In the Aztec culture Pleiades is known as Tianquitzli. In the USA (and around the world) there are many street and farm markets called Seven Sisters.

detail

So, the exhibition at the ICA is all about street markets and how they are meeting places and centers of negotiation, places to try new experiences in food and consumption of all types. At these markets, Cog•nate Collective found an artist sharing a stand with his family who sells clothing. He does commissioned portraits, and so Amy and Misael asked him to make portraits from photos they have been gathering of various markets those in including Tijuana. These portrait of market stands are a big part of this show. But it is the intervention into the market place that is a central job of Cog•nate Collective

At the market, Cog•nate Collective found themselves drawn to mirrors and starting purchasing them. They then photographed various people holding the mirror often pointing up to the sky in the direction of the constellation Tianquitzli (The Seven Sisters). The markets, the mirror, the drawings all become portals for us to enter a dialogue about  another sister culture.

MICA trailer

Parked outside the front door is the small trailer (Mobile Institute for Citizenship and Art, MICA) that is the depository for all sorts of documentation of interactions by this team. It is also  a place of gathering and a library.  It has traveled with them over the last ten years to paths unknown to them, but eventually revealed to us all.  

Cog•nate Collective at ICA San Diego North Education Pavilion
Until Jan 29, 2023
1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas, 92024
For more info: 7604366611  info@icasandiego.org

Free Reception and artist talk on Nov 19, 2023 
 https://icasandiego.ticketing.veevartapp.com/tickets/view/list/cognate-collective-opening-reception-and-artist-talk

NOTE: Cog•nate Collective is one of the four recipients of the SD Art Prize at Central Library Art Gallery  until Jan. 7th, 2023.Presented by San Diego Visual Arts Network and curated by Chi Essary
Alida Cervantes, Angélica Escoto, Carlos Castro Arias, Cog • nate Collective
SD Art Prize Catalog 2022