All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun

This exhibition is comprised of 10 ceramic paintings based on self-portraits of my mother and

tías (aunts), translated through personal memory rather than direct likeness. The paintings

prioritize essence over realism. Each piece reflects their spirit and the way they live inside me.

They speak to the tenderness and resilience women carry at once.

The series was created during an intense period of grief following the passing of my

grandmother, the matriarch of our family, last year. Her absence unmoored our family and

reshaped our constellation. Rather than centering on loss, the work considers continuation, the

inheritance that moves quietly across generations.

The installation is anchored by a central sculpture representing the matriarchal core — my

grandmother and the ancestors before her: the source, the origin point, and grounding force. The

surrounding paintings radiate outward, forming a constellation that extends like a web or root

system. Lineage is presented as something active and expanding.

Ceramic is both delicate and enduring. It holds water and earth. It holds air and fire. It records

touch. Several works are imprinted with my grandmother’s hand-embroidered textiles,

transferring her labor directly into the clay. In this context, it becomes a vessel for remembrance,

something fragile yet permanent, much like lineage itself.

Alongside the paintings, I developed a custom incense for the exhibition. The scent serves as an

atmospheric extension of the work, designed to evoke presence. Smell is one of the most

immediate pathways to recollecting our history; it collapses time. The incense acts as an offering,

a quiet bridge between past and present, inviting viewers into an intimate space of reflection.

The exhibition becomes both altar and archive — a study of matriarchy and ancestral continuity.