Body As A Site of Prayer and Reflection

This work is an homage to Rosario Cruz, a Zapotec artisan from San Marcos Tlapazola, whose practice with barro rojo (red clay) is rooted in ancestral knowledge. During my time in Oaxaca, she became my teacher, sharing not only her relationship to clay, but also her lived experiences as an Indigenous woman—her griefs, her joys, and her continuance.

The project unfolds through a collaborative ritual that brings together craft and devotion as forms of care. Rosario was guided in creating clay vessels that reflect her own understandings of womanhood and motherhood. Together, we formed clay milagros—traditionally used in Mexico to petition for miracles—reimagined here as offerings that honor her life.

The ritual functioned as an act of reciprocity. Rosario became an active altar space as I called upon the seven directions, wove the clay milagros into her braids, and prayed with her using Grandfather Tobacco. Through gesture and adornment, the work affirms her as a life-giver and as someone deserving of healing, nourishment, and care.

The ceremony concluded with the burial of a clay uterus vessel she created. As a symbol of creation and possibility, the vessel held her tobacco prayers, returning them to the earth.

This work centers relationality, honoring the body as a site of memory, offering, and transformation.

Videographer/ Photographer: Rafe Scobey-Thal