Corn is central to Mayan cosmogony. According to the Popol Vuh, the gods first created humans from clay, but it broke easily. Then they made a new type of human from wood, but their hearts were too cold to believe in gods. They then tried making them from corn, and that is how humans were made.
I wanted to keep celebrating tortillas and corn, and I wanted the tortillas I was making to occupy other important places. I was, too, crafting them with my hands, as I make illustrations or write, so I photoshopped the photos I took of them and placed them in a Rothko, a Rodin, a Vermeer, and a Monet.
My second favorite thing about tortillas is their texture. It looks like an aerial perspective of a place, or wrinkles in skin, or dry earth, like a dessert, or rock. With this in mind, I first thought of placing them in Rothko’s «Light, Earth and Blue» (1954).
Different types of corn make different colours of tortilla. My favorite is blue, but I also had white. Having had both doughs cook so nicely seemed too fortuitous and wanted to celebrate both colours. I placed them in Rodin’s «The Kiss» (1901-1904).
The third I made to occupy a Dutch place. My husband is Dutch and we plan to build our lives in The Netherlands. I imagined going to a museum and finding a tortilla in a painting and thought it would be very welcoming for someone like me. Maybe in a silly attempt to revision the Dutch Golden Age and decolonize it a little bit. I placed a white corn tortilla in Vermeer’s «Girl with a Pearl Earring».
I love water lilies. They grow from mud. Earth and water. They float. They are resilient. I love blue tortillas. They are an in-between colour. Blue and brown. Earth and water. I replaced the lily pads with blue tortillas in Monet’s «Water Lilies».
Maxim Zaragoza 