Oaxaca Chicken

Oaxaca Chicken. This was always very important,  brought to me by (wonderful) Nancy Ledesma, a young woman who'd taken the Argentina class (Canciones Criollas) back in 2009. Her family was from México, but she enrolled out of a wider interest in the Latin American world. We listened to some wonderful songs that semester (Atahualpa Yupanqui, Jorge Cafrune, Leda y María) and read Lucio Mansilla (Una Excursión a los Indios Ranqueles) with the idea of discovering for ourselves where that beautiful Argentine culture really came from. Impossible, of course, but an invigorating challenge.

Nancy's work always seemed to follow a certain curve. She was an Art Practice major, quite talented, and she'd already focused on her own questions of place and origins. (Probably why she took the class.) So that with each new Argentine selection, she'd introduce her work by saying, "I loved listening to the new song by don Atahualpa--it reminded me of the time, near Guanajuato, with my abuela..." and off she'd go--her project (a new drawing or painting) would be about México, of course--the Argentine mention just a way in.

I never objected--mainly because her work was so genuine. (And she did enjoy Atahualpa Yupanqui!) She told us a story once, about discovering her grandmother's own roots--her abuela's indigenous past--something that Nancy had known nothing about. A true and beautiful--and important--moment of discovery, and one that she wanted to share.

Continues to share, that is. I've followed some of Nancy's work since that time, online, and I find it truly subtle and compelling--they're questions that matter!

_____

Note: Nancy's presence--and the whole experience of sharing her work that semester, was no doubt one of the inspirations for my doing the México class a few years later. (VS185X: Songs & Places: México) Maybe it was this chicken--esta gallina oaxaqueña--that kept reminding me I needed to do it--to take the leap myself...

Nancy Ledesma

.