Parcero’s series "Cartographia Interior" layers self-portraits with anatomical diagrams and ancient Mexican codices.

The work was created in 1996 and this particular piece is a reprint from 2017.

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Mexican artist Tatiana Parcero has said that her work uses the human body to explore intersections of “identity, memory, territory, and time.” Her photography forces these ideas into the physical world by using layering as a mode of organization. This piece is created by suspending a print with ancient Mexican codices slightly behind a transparent Plexiglas print of Parcero’s body. The image is dependent on this three-dimensional construction, since light must be present for the codices to be visible through the Plexiglas. Because the image of Parcero’s body is transparent, it appears to be tattooed by the codices. The nature of the work evokes physicality in all senses—time in the reliance on ephemeral light, identity in the use of the body, and memory and territory in the reference to an ancient technique used to keep systematic records of things like territory. Parcero’s use of ancient Mexican codices adds yet another layer—perhaps she is drawing attention to her Mexican identity, suggesting a conversion between it and her genetic ancestry.

Laura Woods, SCR ’18

artist's signature

pigment prints on acetate and cotton paper, mounted and framed

The artist's eyes, bridge of the nose and a portion of the forehead are depicted. The artist's eyes stare outward, framed by dark eyebrows. Part of an anatomical illustration seems to hover over the right side (viewer's right) of the artist's face, with some of the illustration apparent over the left eye as well. A row of numbers (printed backward) curve over the artist's forehead.

This object has the following keywords:

• Artists and Craftsmen
• Females
• Portraits
• Women Artists

This object is a member of the following portfolios: