Obra Negra is a series of charcoal drawings depicting the unfinished homes of San Francisco Coapa, Puebla, Mexico.
These unfinished homes —known as obra negra in Mexico— are scattered around the town; most are owned by those displaced during mexico’s economic crises of the eighties and nineties. Due to the financial strain and lack of foreseeable opportunity approximately half of coapa’s population relocated. Many immigrated to the U.s. with plans to return within five to ten years, but more than twenty years later few have returned.
These drawings aim to capture the physical markers of this displacement. structures that long to be completed; containers for dreams of home and return. structures that —much like their owners— lie in a state of liminality; of not here/nor there.
Obra Negra #1-49 (Installation view)
Map of San Francisco Coapa & obra negra houses
all drawings are charcoal pencil on paper, 11”x14”
