 Arizona has been called "America's Meth Lab of Democracy". Many hot button issues were tried here first and have since gone national-- on steroids. One of them is nativism. Back in 2013, I did a painting called, Navidad Baja Arizona - A Christmas Story. It was my response to the dehumanization of immigrants dying in our desert, and how women were accused of coming here to have "anchor babies" and game our system. Fear and victim-blaming has been a wildly successful political weapon throughout history, especially in Arizona--and each generation to breeds new sets of eager, vulnerable ears. Enter the Trump brand of nativism and by 2019, it's a whole new ballgame. This Christmas, I didn't need to reinvent the wheel-- just add some ammunition and realities we'd rather not think about. I DO want to remember that the Nativity is really about the Human Spirit. Regimes come and go and although the human spirit is ephemeral, it finds a way. Always. - Linda Magdalena Victoria  "Because there was no room for them at the inn."  Forbidden Christ / El Cristo Prohibido  Ningun ser humano es illegal / No human is illegal  "Migrant Protection Protocols": MX police, cartels, gangs.  Nuestra Señora la Protectora Comments are closed.
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* La Corúa was a large water serpent that lived in springs of water and protected them. They say it had a cross on its forehead and cleaned the veins of water with its long fangs or tusks. It was a shy creature but could sometimes be caught sunning on the rocks of the spring. According to Sonoran folk beliefs, if one killed the Corúa, the spring would dry up. Vanishing water sources and economic pressures have pushed the folklore of La Corúa to the dustbin of history on both sides of the border, but La Corúa remains in the minds and memories of elders in the Pimería Alta.
Serpents have been sacred for millennia to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and are respected as guardians of water sources and bringers of rain. * Beliefs and Holy Places - A Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta - James S. Griffith, University of Arizona Press, 1992 Background painting: Baboquivari Peak - the monolith landmark defining the Baboquivari mountains southwest of Tucson. The center of Tohono O'odham cosmology, it is sacred and is the home of I'itoi, their Creator and Elder Brother. The peak is visible from Casa Grande in the northwest, south into Mexico. (I'itoi is also the figure in the O'odham 'Man in the Maze' basket design.)
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