Citlali Fabian

Visual Artist and Storyteller
    
“Where my belly button is buried"
Location: London, UK
Nationality: Mexican
Biography: Yalalteca, Mexican visual artist and storyteller based in the United Kingdom. She uses photography to explore ways of addressing identity and its connections with territory, migration, and community bonds. Fabián is a  2020 Visura... MORE
Public Story
“Where my belly button is buried"
Copyright Citlali Fabian 2024
Updated Jun 2020
Topics Fine Art, Mixed Medium, Photography
“Where My Belly Button is Buried / Donde enterraron mi ombligo”

This series of images and manipulated photo objects are the start of a personal process of healing from the suffering of colonization, in which photography is a ritual to explore the role of women and motherhood in my community, my relationship with my roots, territories, and migration movements. In this practice, I direct the feminine energy to heal these wounds,  to revive in my tongue the language of my ancestors, to understand and keep the ancestral knowledge, to encourage my people to appreciate our heritage and feel proud of our origins. Each stitch, scratch, and brushstroke is an act of resistance, a reaffirmation of my existence, that sustains my connections to my family, community, and land. Creating this body of work is a curative ritual to explore the different elements that shaped my duxherha (the whole, body, spirit, and soul), to bury my fears, and sow strength for the ones coming. In each piece I insert elements of my culture and family history – a thread, a plant, a seed, a tree, charged with different meanings – to link the stories of my ancestors. In this way each object tells their story for those who look under the surface.
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“Where my belly button is buried
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