México Mágico
I finished my first artist residency in Jalisco!
Last fall, I decided that I was ready to apply for some artist residencies. It had always been a dream of mine to do one, but always felt I didn’t have the talent or experience to even try until recently. Research on the right residency was one thing, but the application process itself was daunting. I had to come up with an artist statement as well as a project proposition and I hadn’t done any of those things since I had graduated from school in 2018. Where and how do I apply? What was I going to work on? And who would even be interested in seeing my work? Agh. I tried not to linger too much on these thoughts and ended up doing a Google search on artist residencies, which led me to the ResArtis website, a database of artist residencies all around the world. After hours of reading, contemplating, anxious thoughts forming and ricocheting in my little head, and endless scrolling of all the options I could choose from, I finally decided that I wanted to do an international residency; I wanted to stay somewhere rural; and I wanted to make something related to birds. I got to work.
I submitted to 5 different residencies and heard back from 4. This artist residency on a little farm near the town of San Isidro in Jalisco, Mexico immediately caught my attention and in October 2023, I accepted their offer. I was going to start the new year going to my 11th country and making art on a farm. I was nervous and excited, but didn’t really know what to expect. Fast forward through the holidays and it was already time to head to my flight to Mexico!
My hosts, Sarah and Sebastian, picked me up late at the airport and we hit the road, with Sebastian’s dad, Esteban, driving. We made a quick stop to buy me some groceries as well as a bite to eat at a local taqueria before heading to Anima Casa Rural.
Because I arrived at night and everything was relatively dark (like actually pitch black), I really didn’t know what to expect, but what awaited me in the morning was greater than I could’ve ever imagined.
I stayed in the main house on the land and was given access to a cool igloo building as my studio space.
For the next 2 weeks, I would observe over 40 new bird species (this will be another post), go outside everyday and take the time to slow down my usually fast-paced and anxiety-filled life, walk with some of the dogs of Anima (Mikka, Milo, and Sharuka), make 20 paper collage birds based on the ones I saw throughout the parts of Jalisco I was able to explore, eat lots of good food (although diarrhea a bit 😭), travel to Ajijic, Guadalajara, Rio Caliente, and Ribera del Lago, and become good friends with my 2 amazing hosts! Needless to say, I had a beautiful time and I miss it already. Anima is truly a magical place and Mexico is filled with beautiful people!
I’m really glad I didn’t let my imposter syndrome get in the way of having this experience. I truly couldn’t have asked for or imagined a better one and I hope if you got this far reading my post, you don’t let fear of rejection or even the fear of being alone in a foreign country hold you back from taking a chance on yourself! Because what IF👏You👏Just👏Did👏The👏Damn👏Thing! 👏👏👏
Princess!! This is so amazing and inspiring!! Def relate to imposter syndrome :,) so excited to see the work that you made!