The Origins: Genesis project is a fundraiser to launch Expressions, a community-driven creativity platform and social marketplace for digital and physical goods. Origins will showcase works by creatives in underrepresented communities around the world. 100% of the proceeds go to the artists and nonprofits. Our Genesis collection showcases hundreds of handmade digital works (no AI or generative art) by top artists in the Caribbean. For the projects roadmap: https://ambr.live

Origins: Genesis

Note: This work of art is being sold under a Limited Commercial License for the entrepreneurial-minded.
 
 This 12-second animated video represents the 'UNI' series  my attempt to reconnect with my ancestors in ancient times. 'UNI' is a word in the native language (Papiamento) of Aruba. It means 'united' in English. 'Mahawa' (the name is of possible Arawak origin) is a place in Aruba, known for its only pictograph of a zoomorph motif with characteristics of a bird painted with red dye.
 
 This artwork represents a pictograph (cave drawing) found in this location and executed with my own artistic expression, based on number 470 out of the 480+ pictographs documented in the book The Archaeology of Aruba: The pictographs and petroglyphs' by Aad H. Versteeg & Harold J. Kelly. (A pictograph is painted on the stone/cave while a petroglyph is a shape that is carved into the stone/cave.) There are more than 480 pictographs and petroglyphs that have been documented in Aruba, some lost today due to vandalism and natural decay. 
 
 These pictorial creations are inspired by the many shapes Ive internalized in my own artistic visions along with a newfound inspiration to connect with my indigenous roots in precolonial times by bringing that sensibility into contemporary times. 
 
 The materials used are one square meter of cotton canvas with a natural material that is called annatto (Bixa Orellana) in English, achiote in Spanish and rucu in Papiamento. Rucu is a seed that is used in crushed seed and powder form, mixed with a binder and white acrylic paint. The work also incorporates black and chrome-colored paint marker. 
 
 I incorporated rucu in the work because it connects me with my Arawak/Caquetio ancestors. The material is considered sacred among indigenous peoples in South and Central America and the Caribbean and it has many usages, including medicine, rituals, body adornment, food, etc. In today's world, the material is used primarily as food dye, found from my own home to worldwide factories. (Every Aruban can tell you the story how Grandma always used to have some annatto seeds cooked in oil at the ready to add some natural color to a dish.)