An important aspect of creating “other worlds” is the belief that each culture, each language, and each individual creates a unique understanding of beauty, normality, happiness and autonomy. The cultures of capitalism and consumerism persuade large populations that there is only one way toward progress and prosperity. Here, Bartolo Martinez shapes his own image of beauty outside of the commercialization of the body and mind.  

 

 

"Mia never backs away from a view that life and death, inner and outer states of being, are a commingling of raw viscerality and tenderness. Bodies move across the land and disappear into the land. Construction and deconstruction, visibility and invisibility, movement and stillness repeat in her work. The liminal threshold is crossed with the help of many, but it is often rigorous work requiring time and trust.

 

Bartolo Martinez carves his legs and then after a brief moment of sitting upon them, breaks them up as he tells his mystical story of his encounter with god."

 

-Susan Main