Alice Bag and Rachel Thorson 
No. 13, 2024
Serigraph, Ed. of 50
22 x 15 in. 

Alice Bag: 

This song was inspired by Goddess 13, a band I formed with Teresa Covarrubias, and the statuette that inspired the band’s name.

In 1991, an art exhibition called Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries came to Los Angeles. Among the treasures was a little brown figurine. It was absolutely perfect and beautiful. It had no name, but it was labeled Goddess 13. I made a correlation between that ancient nameless goddess and ordinary women, specifically women of Mexican ancestry like myself, who shared a connection to the statuette’s origins. 

Around the same time, I was hanging out at Troy Cafe in downtown Los Angeles. Many Chicanas were playing music, writing, and making art at Troy. It was an exciting time when women were taking chances, flexing their creativity, and really shining bright.

Flash forward several years to the present when young girls become empowered through rock camp experiences like Chicas Rockeras S.E.L.A. They’re learning to voice their concerns, form alliances, and uplift each other. They’re taking the first steps towards connecting with their higher self.

This song provides three vignettes of ordinary goddesses: the ancient goddess represented in the statuette, the ones I saw on stage at Troy Cafe, and those just starting to understand their strength and power. They are past, present, and future versions of an eternal divine feminine.