As we think about Mayan pottery created for cocoa drinks in the Classic period (250-950 CE), we realize that the material world is deeply tied to the human experience. The pieces that we consider to be from an ancient past continue to be active and full of meaning in our present. The material world often tells stories of identity, property, status, and emotional relationships, as well as reflecting extractivist and accumulation practices. Ceramics for Chocolate explores the relationship between the ancestral practice of consuming cocoa and the production of clay pieces with a perspective that highlights the entanglement between cultures and the surrounding matter.

Research and writing are always in process and involve thought and bodily movements, affects and sensory experiences. Therefore, this research is crossed by writings and fragments that could be considered “unfinished” and “intimate.” Investigating is an artistic practice, in the sense that it is an “inquiry” (from its Latin etymology, “test”, “follow vestiges”) and begins with the motivation to know, be-another and explore the world in which that we live, that is why it is always a practice in process and unfinished.

Texts: Andrea Reed-Leal
Printed Fanzine: Andrea García, Printed MX
Postal printed: Agustín Romero, Prensa Zurdo
Print run: 150 copies