Las Supersticónes de mi Madre

© Darmyn - Image from the Las Supersticónes de mi Madre photography project © Darmyn - Con tu amor, you drove in all directions, many distances away, to make sure that lo malo would never find me. © Darmyn - Con tu amor, you absorbed los espiritus in the bedroom by placing a glass of water on the nightstand. View all images ↓
View all images ↓

Las Supersticónes de mi Madre is a photo series I started during my artist residency at Koubek Center in Little Havana, Miami. The work interprets childhood memories of my mother's superstitions.

I grew up in Sydney, Australia to loving Ecuadorian parents. Back then, I was unaware that my mother's odd superstitions would come to have a place in my heart after having my children. What I thought then to be embarrassing moments—telling us to keep the black butterflies out of the house or putting fear into us if we had a shower on Good Friday because if we did, we would turn into a fish—I have now come to embrace these actions and come to cherish my mother's protective quirks. This work interprets the memory of those superstitions. 

To go with this photo series, I have also made a dance film based on one of my mother’s superstitions, La Superstición del Huevo. This short film was recently awarded a post-production grant from Dance on Camera.

© Darmyn - Image from the Las Supersticónes de mi Madre photography project
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Con tu amor, your tender fingers rolled an egg across my tiny body, to cleanse me of any cosa mala that may have been lurking within.

© Darmyn - Con tu amor, you drove in all directions, many distances away, to make sure that lo malo would never find me.
i

Con tu amor, you drove in all directions, many distances away, to make sure that lo malo would never find me.

© Darmyn - Con tu amor, you absorbed los espiritus in the bedroom by placing a glass of water on the nightstand.
i

Con tu amor, you absorbed los espiritus in the bedroom by placing a glass of water on the nightstand.

© Darmyn - Con tu amor, you protected me from el duende by telling me never to wear gold jewelry to bed.
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Con tu amor, you protected me from el duende by telling me never to wear gold jewelry to bed.

© Darmyn - Con tu amor, you told me not to shower on Viernes Santo because turning into a fish would be a sin.
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Con tu amor, you told me not to shower on Viernes Santo because turning into a fish would be a sin.