About the Artist : Susan Plum

I was raised in Mexico City and at 20 moved to the US. I had spent very little time in Mexico until I moved back to live in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, in 2003. However, the bicultural experience has been the source and heart of my work. Having followed the escalation of border-crossing deaths after NAFTA (1996) the murder of young girls in Juarez, which continue to this day, I have come to look at the Rio Grande as an open wound. As an artist and spiritual activist I see this as an opportunity to bring not only awareness to these horrible acts of violence but healing as well.

Originally I planned to “sweep” the Mexican/American border from the Gulf to the Pacific. However, I decided Juarez was where I needed to begin. In June of 2004 I walked across the border from El Paso, Texas, to Juarez, Mexico. There I met with Marisela Ortiz, head of the organization, El Centro de Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa (www.mujeresdejuarez.org ). She introduced me to several mothers who have lost their daughters. Marisela and I shared a vision of giving the mothers the opportunity to participate in a limpia or cleansing, which would bring them a sense of empowerment. The mothers were enthusiastic and interested in being part of the performance-ritual.

In 2004 Luz y Solidaridad began with an email invitation to a large circle of friends to light a votive candle to bring light to the daughters and solidarity to the mothers, photographed the ritual and sent it to me to be added to the installation. Luz y Solidaridad opened February 4, 2006 at at the Museo de la Ciudad, Querétaro, Mexico and will be incorporated into “The Missing Peace,” an exhibition in honor of the Dalai Lama that will open June 11, 2006, at the Fowler Museum in LA. The exhibition includes 75 artists from around the world. “The Missing Peace” will travel to other venues in the US, Europe and Eastern Europe for several years. www.dalailamaportrait.org