Makuyeika (de aquí y de allá) is a vibrant self-portrait collage created by Edgar Fabián Frías, a Wixárika descendant raised in a predominantly immigrant and Latinx community in Southern California. Using open-source software and AI, Frías creates a rich tapestry of colors and living and non-living elements playfully embodying a stance of emboldened sovereignty while also ignoring and transgressing colonial norms and hierarchies. The slippery is holy.

The title from this artwork comes from a word Frías first learned from the academic and scholar Diana Negrín who has done work with Wixárika youth navigating between traditional rural communities and urban areas and is currently teaching at UC Berkeley.

The term "makuyeika" in Wixárika culture refers to individuals who traverse many places. This artwork asserts our rightful connection and relationship to the lands we traverse, countering the common narrative faced by indigenous and Latinx youth in the USA who often hear, "no soy de aquí ni de allá" - "I am not from here nor am I from there." Reclaiming a narrative rooted in Indigenous Futurism, animistic reciprocity, and radical queer joy, Frías seeks to recontextualize personal and collective histories of displacement, dislocation, hybridity, and resiliency.

Through a dynamic self-portrait, Makuyeika asserts the sovereignty of indigenous people, acknowledging their sacred ties to specific lands and communities as well as their continued contributions to the many lands they live in across the globe. It provides a powerful validation of being "from here and from there" – the ability to carry sacred traditions across multiple places, forms, times, and contexts.

.jpg | 4945  ×  2299 px | 2024

1 + 1 AP by Edgar Fabián Frías