La Cruz

La Cruz is not a traditional cross: it is not a burden, but a possibility. It does not signify an end, but opens a space for reflection and reinvention.

La Cruz is not a traditional cross: it is not a burden, but a possibility. It does not signify an end, but opens a space for reflection and reinvention. Situated at the intersection of materiality and spirituality, photographic technique, and gender identity, the work questions what is made visible and what remains unseen. Which bodies are recognized as legitimate within the realm of the sacred? What histories and identities have been forgotten in the symbols we inherit?

Composed of six unique ambrotypes (wet-collodion on glass), La Cruz is entirely constructed from recycled materials salvaged from an abandoned convent. Every part of the cross – from its wooden structure to its smallest details – comes from the existing architecture of the site, and even the glass for the ambrotypes was recovered from old convent windows. In this way, the past is physically embedded in the work and transformed through the creative process.

The photographs were produced using a giant camera obscura that I built specifically for this project: a tent transformed into a photographic chamber equipped with a vintage lens originally used for aviation. This unique apparatus captures the light, textures, and memory of the convent’s architecture in a direct and material way, inscribing the place itself into each image.

At the center of the cross is a travesti performer, whose body and identity challenge the conventions long imposed on representations of the sacred. The work thus becomes a space of confrontation between inherited religious symbols and identities that have been marginalized or rendered invisible. It invites viewers to reconsider what constitutes the sacred and to reflect collectively on the visibility, recognition, and legitimacy of non-normative bodies and gender identities within our symbolic narratives.

La Cruz is a one-of-a-kind artwork, born from a specific context and an irreplaceable artisanal and technical process. Every ambrotype, every piece of wood, every fragment of glass is both a trace of the past and a contemporary proposition: an attempt to reimagine spirituality as an open, flexible, and inclusive territory. It highlights contemporary social concerns regarding visibility, legitimacy, and the recognition of diverse identities.

By reimagining the cross as a living and questioning symbol, this installation creates a dialogue between religious heritage and contemporary consciousness, between material and body, between light and memory. La Cruz is not merely a visual artwork; it is a space for collective reflection, a symbolic territory open to reinvention and inclusion.