Recoser la Pachamama* (Re-stitching Mother Nature) is a mixed-media photographic project where landscape photographs are transformed physically using embroidery patterns that are hand-sewn using thread. The project is dedicated to my maternal grandfather, a Chilean exile who moved his family to Canada, who was a dedicated environmentalist in his final years of life, teaching his grandchildren the importance of taking care of our planet. Using locations around Toronto that he would take his grandchildren to, Recoser la Pachamama explores themes of remembrance, nostalgia and cultural identity. To represent our family’s Chilean roots, patterns that originate from the textiles and ceramics of the Mapuche and Diaguita peoples who are two of various indigenous groups from the region now known as the colonized land of Chile, are hand-sewn onto the physical photographic prints. Just like the First Nation and Metis people in Canada, Indigenous people have been historically mistreated in Chile and still are. However, without the influence of Indigenous customs and traditions in all aspects of Chilean culture especially of the Mapuches, the Chilean identity would not be what it is today.
*The word Pachamama derives from the Quechua language and is the term used in Southern Latin America for the word Mother Nature.
Daniella Valenzuela
(She/Her)
Daniella Valenzuela is a Chilean Canadian multidisciplinary artist whose work touches on themes of nostalgia, memory and her cultural identity. Ever since she got her first camera at the age of 8, Daniella has been in love with photography. Now at 24 years old, she has finally found her niche as a hybrid photographic artist, turning her photographs into new works of art with techniques such as embroidery and silkscreen printing.