Quetzal Flores
Nave de Madera, 2024
Serigraph, Ed. of 56
22 x 15 in. 

I was born into movement. I am made of movement. My life’s work has been to sit in community and learn different ways to reclaim a mobility towards collective liberation. Music has been my primary vehicle for facilitating this. It has kept me connected and in relationship with other people in profound ways. When I was 19, I met my lifelong teacher, Lorenzo “Lencho” Martinez. He said to me, “Flaco, it’s cool you like that rock shit, but you have to learn your tradiciónes.” Lencho put the jarana jarocha in my hands. Immediately, I was transported into another universe — one of possibility, imagination, and hope. I could literally hear the ancestors speaking to me, speaking through me. It made clear the monumental task that so many generations of culture bearers committed to so that one day, we could have access to this information. It also made apparent the expansiveness of time and space. The jarana has been my primary composing tool for 30 years. It has been my translator and voice to make critical statements. It has also been my therapist, my confidant, and my friend. My jarana has seen me at my most vulnerable, my worst and best, and still has never let me down.