Reflexiones
This work initially began as an exploration of Spanish colonization in the Americas, motivated by Schafer's desire to understand her maternal "mestiza" origin. In this series, Schafer uses digital images to create direct visual connections between complex historical events that have become abstracted or obscured by time and intention. By layering, mirroring, and ordering selected images, Schafer aims to shift historical authorship and restore truths. Using juxtapositions, she examines the irony of the near annihilation of indigenous social structures and systems of knowledge at the point of contact with European diseases, and the inherent violence accompanied by European presumption of cultural superiority. She further explores the parallels between the catastrophic historic loss of sovereignty and the continuing implications on Latin Americans' migration to this day.
The artworks use the mirror, reflection, and the Rorschach ink blot as metaphors to share an introspective process of reconciling a part of Schafer's ancestral history that is complex, shameful, and horrific, laced with greed, violence, and disease. The latest works in this series focus on exploring the indigenous beliefs that were lost in Schafer's lineage and nearly erased by colonization and cultural assimilation. The aim is to seek a restorative process that reincorporates these beliefs into her life.
This work initially began as an exploration of Spanish colonization in the Americas, motivated by Schafer's desire to understand her maternal "mestiza" origin. In this series, Schafer uses digital images to create direct visual connections between complex historical events that have become abstracted or obscured by time and intention. By layering, mirroring, and ordering selected images, Schafer aims to shift historical authorship and restore truths. Using juxtapositions, she examines the irony of the near annihilation of indigenous social structures and systems of knowledge at the point of contact with European diseases, and the inherent violence accompanied by European presumption of cultural superiority. She further explores the parallels between the catastrophic historic loss of sovereignty and the continuing implications on Latin Americans' migration to this day.
The artworks use the mirror, reflection, and the Rorschach ink blot as metaphors to share an introspective process of reconciling a part of Schafer's ancestral history that is complex, shameful, and horrific, laced with greed, violence, and disease. The latest works in this series focus on exploring the indigenous beliefs that were lost in Schafer's lineage and nearly erased by colonization and cultural assimilation. The aim is to seek a restorative process that reincorporates these beliefs into her life.
Portal to a future harvest for the three sisters/ Portal hacia la cosecha futura para las tres hermanas, 2023. Digital archival pigment print on cotton made with elements from DALL·E 2, 30 x 30 inches. Edition of 5 + A.P. + T.P
Corazón salvaje/ Untamed heart, 2022. Oil on panel, 30 x 24 inches.
Portal al corazón salvaje/ Portal to an untamed heart, 2021. Gold over digital archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle William Turner 310 cotton, 30.67 x 46 inches, 1/5 Edition of 5 + A.P. + T.P.
Codicia/ Greed, 2022. Gold and ink on Arches cotton 16 x 12.135 inches, unique
¿Empatía? (Las Casas y Cortés)/ Empathy? (Las Casas y Cortés), 2020. Mixed media: ink, watercolor, and gold details over digital archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle William Turner 310 cotton, 39.4 x 55.12 inches,
Edition of 3 + A.P.
Amándonos a nosotrxs mismxs I/ Loving ourselves I, 2020.
Gold on cotton, 15 x 19.5 inches
Amándonos a nosotrxs mismxs II/ Loving ourselves II, 2020.
Gold on cotton,
15.25 x 22.5 inches
Amándonos a nosotrxs mismxs VIII/ Loving ourselves VIII, 2022.
Gold on cotton,
15.25 x 22.5 inches
Amándonos a nosotrxs mismxs IX/ Loving ourselves IX, 2022. Gold on cotton, 15.25 x 22.5 inches
