Self-portrait - Guatemala

Self-portrait of the artist Sandra Monterroso, wearing a San Juan Chamelco Hüipil, Alta Verapaz. Text in Maya Q’eqchi’ language (applied to the mouth): "Aa'o ink'a' nokoxik" (We are not leaving).

SANDRA MONTERROSO | GUATEMALA
1974, Guatemala. Lives and works in Guatemala and Vienna, Austria

Rokeb’ iq’/Viento, 2014, sound installation
Courtesy: the artist

Ethnic group: Maya Q’equchi
Language: Maya
Speaker: Sandra Monterroso
Location: Guatemala. Geographical Area: 24.662 km2 in the main nucleus and 29.582 km2 in the expanded area
Population: 852.012 inhabitants. Men: 428.410. Women: 423.602, according to the 11th National Census, 2002)

“When the world began, the mountain was covered by people
He started to inquire where his sister had gone. Who has stolen her?
Dew of the night. Purplish blue. Last night the thunder rumbled.
Come hither and sweeten the blood.
I have now prepared the necessary for dispensing with bad luck. “Where do you come from?”
Wind without water, innocent, faultless, immaculate, without sin.
Coiled, broken, speckled. Too deceptive: Dark
The bad spirit of the ball, it is best that it depart
Reflection of light, as if done to one who is blind
Put out our fire; water for washing, to purify the soul a little.
The house is now empty. Silence.”