Israel Cedillo
Issue No. 21 • Spring 2020
This piece is about my spiritual upbringing and how it has transformed into a meditative process. References to Catholic compositions intermingle with iconography correlating to my Latilanidad (e.g. upbringing with Latin American ideologies and heritage) in order to illustrate an amalgamation of current tragedies: the Earthquake near Chiapas, MX; the fires in Los Angeles, USA; attacks on DACA and TPS recipients; hurricanes throughout North America. These all contribute to perils I am connected to through proximity and heritage.
As a youth in Chollas View, San Diego, CA I wasn't able to go outside very often in my own neighborhood out of fear instilled into me by my family. "Esta muy peligroso, mijo"/"It's too dangerous out there, son" but the people that were deemed dangerous were the ones being shot and killed at times, at times it seems that our family immigrated away from the danger, just to be imposed by many other restrictions in the States due to race, legacy, and academic merit. In this piece, I juxtapose prayers and mantras maintained throughout generations with tragedies and death. I bring an edit to the traditional prayer of "Our Father," with additions of my own voice.