Jackie Amézquita (Quetzaltengo, Guatemala, b.1985) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She is an artist with a multidisciplinary practice. Her research is articulated through the use of material and forms associated with pre-Columbian cultures. Amézquita creates public performances, installations, and objects that fuse indigenous mythologies with contemporary community engagement.
Amézquita received her M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2022 and her B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, in 2018. She has exhibited with The Hammer Museum, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) CA, LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) CA, 18th St Art Center CA, The Armory Center of the Arts CA, Vincent Price Art Museum CA, The Annenberg Space for Photography CA, Human Resources Los Angeles CA, MAD (Museum of Art and Design) NY. Amézquita is the recipient of the Mohn Public Recognition Award (2023), Mohn Land Award (2023), Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts Los Angeles Art Fund (2022), and National Performance Network Fund (2022). Amézquita has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, ARTnews, and The Art Newspaper, LA. Weekly, hyperallergic, Walker Art Center magazine.

Works

SOIL

 

Soil source from the 1,951 mile border that connects the U.S and Mexico, corn masa, salt, cal (dehydrated lime), rain water, framed with copper.

Copper

Banana, salt incubated over a period of five months on copper

Fiber

 

Pasadena, California
Dimensions: 40’X40’

Sueños Fértiles, 2018 (Fertile Dreams) looks at the journey thousands of people make across different border entries into the United States. In this installation, I’m interested in the transformation that happens to a body upon entering a new space, as well as the effect of this interaction on the space. This exhibition is the next evolutionary stage of my previous installation, Mi Ultimo Suspiro, 2017 (My Last Breath). In Sueños Fértiles, I reconnect the remains of the clothing and towels that soaked all the water from the previous installation by casting them with salt, forming crystallized bundles of memories.

Door/Loom: Construction wood, screws, nails, woven clothing from people that migrated from different parts of the world, fiber crochet chains, 100% American soil, 45% traveled 150 miles South West of Pasadena, 5% traveled 140 miles south of Pasadena, 45% traveled 5.1 miles west of Pasadena, and 5% traveled 2.5 miles east of Pasadena (The soil was transported in the home depot buckets), acquired clothes from the different border that connects the US and Mexico, laundry detergent and salt (Crystals were formed inside the home depot buckets), 100 % Latin American string, Home Depot rags and towels from Mi Ultimo Suspiro.

Dimensions variable

 

 

In Between Borders, 2017 is a silkscreen of three photographs taken in 2016 of the border of Ramallah in Palestine, the US border of San Ysidro, CA, and Tijuana, BC, Mexico, and a window in Jerusalem, Israel.

Public works

 

A collaborative performance during AMBOS Project with Tanya Agüiñiga.
Douglas, Arizona-US, and Agua Prieta, Sonora-Mexico

Backstrap weaving is a time-honored technique that requires a long, narrow loom wrapped around the waist of the weaver and secured to a stationary object. In tension, Tanya Aguiñiga and Jackie Amézquita’s bodies serve as stationary as both the body and the stationary object weave from one side to the other side of the border fence. Agüiniga and Amézquita received training in back strap weaving from Mayan women in Chiapas and Guatemala, respectively. Aguiñiga is a staunch advocate for honoring pre-colonial cultures and knowledge through the art of backstrap weaving while also maintaining a strong connection to physical labor. Meanwhile, Amézquita sees weaving as a way of reconnecting to one’s cultural identity and ancestral knowledge.

The border fence united the two artists during an activation at the border. Aguiñiga was stationed in Douglas, Arizona, while Amézquita was in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, in full view of the US Border Patrol. This location holds immense significance for Amézquita, who attempted to enter the US undocumented as a teenager to reunite with her mother in 2003.

Nakbe, El Mirador, Petén Guatemala Photos by Rony Rodriguez

It’s an activation in Nakbe, approximately 13 kilometers south of El Mirador in Guatemala. Nakbe is one of the oldest cities in the region currently occupied by Petén Itzá. Archaeological excavations in the area suggest that the city is from the formative period or pre-classic 1400 BC. It’s believed that the city collapsed in 100-200 AD. Amézquita thinks of soil as an archive that holds the memory of the past. During this activation, the environment witnessed the integration between human and nonhuman entities. The actions of Amézquitas’s body in space serve as a conduit of reconnection between the past, the present, and the future. The feathers on her head were found during the journey, acknowledging the animal entities that inhabit the place.

Attending to the wound: a wake, a waiting, a witnessing 2023

 

Performance with LaRissa Rogers 23:49 min
Documentation provided by LACE, edited by Vladimir Santos.

attending to the wound: a wake, a waiting, a witnessing is a performance activating a collaborative installation of Hieroglyphs of metaphysical lacerations, drawing from previous works A Poetic of Living 2019 by LaRissa Rogers and Sueños Fértilez 2,018 by artist Jackie Amézquita. Using Black Care by Calvin Warren as a point of departure, the performance starts at sunset and works through grief, solidarity, and weight transfer. The performance addresses the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

References

–  https://hammer.ucla.edu/made-la-2023-acts-living/jackie-amezquita

– https://jackieamezquita.com/

Dineo Seshee Bopape is a South African contemporary artist known for her multimedia installations, video art, sculptures, and performances, in which she incorporates organic materials like soil (EARTH), coal, ash, and clay.  Her environmental installations delve into themes of memory, identity, and belonging, pushing visitors to experience soil in a completely different way. 

Bopape’s art draws heavily on African cosmologies, oral histories, and indigenous knowledge systems, addressing the complexities of belonging and displacement. Born in Polokwane, South Africa, the artist takes from her own experience and weaves narratives that investigate archetypes and myths in which the female figure plays a central role.

Her practice reflects on the body, emotions, trauma, and the unseen or spiritual dimensions of life. Her installations evoke layered meanings and leave room for ambiguity. Viewers must therefore engage with both material and metaphor.

With memory, belonging, and place.

Her installations have been featured all around the world, making it toPirelli HangarBicocca’s gallery in Milan, Italy with  Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo].

This exposition asks the question: What Memories are preserved in Stones, Water, and Earth?

Here, historical and geographical references are brought together, to reflect on the memory, and more specifically the transmission of memory through natural elements like water and earth, and the use of sounds and words as healing.   The installation draws on the symbolic use of earth, organic elements, and rituals, alluding to ancestral connections, healing practices, and African cosmologies. “Moswara’marapo” translates from Sesotho to “the smell of bones,” which adds a layer of meaning to the work, suggesting ideas of mortality, memory embedded in the earth, and the cycles of life and death.

“Born in the first light of the morning [moswara’marapo]” is just one example of the ways Dineo Seshee Bopape translates memory, spirituality, and materiality into powerful artistic experiences. But her work extends far beyond this single installation. From “Untitled (Of Occult Instability) [Feelings]” to  “More/Moreana,” Bopape’s art challenges us to engage deeply with themes of identity, healing, and historical trauma.

Her use of natural elements like soil, water, and ash does more than reflect the material world—it urges us to question our relationship with these elements. Her work invites us to consider how land and memory are intertwined and how ancestral knowledge persists within the earth and within us. Through her installations, Bopape reminds us that nature is not just a backdrop to human experience but a living archive that holds our histories, traumas, and hopes for transformation.

References

• Soil, Dust, Life: Dineo Seshee Bopape on Her Earthy, Searching Art
• Toronto Biennial of Art 
• Pirelli HangerBicocca
• Between Mud, Matter and Mother

Rafa Esparza is a Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist, known for exploring the intersections of history, identity, and place through his work. Born and raised in East L.A., Esparza draws inspiration from his Mexican-American culture. His installations, performances, and sculptures delve into themes of colonization, queer identity, and environmental concerns, critiquing ideologies, power structures and binaries. Esparza frequently collaborates with other artists and his community, including his family members.

His most prominent works consists of building adobe structures in unconventional spaces, such as the Los Angeles River and art galleries. This in reference to both his familial roots and indigenous building traditions they also emphasize the labor and traditional skills involved.

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“I just knew that adobe had a special place in his own personal history, and I thought it could be a good way to start  having conversations about some guidance that I needed at the time as a young person coming into adulthood. What it did, in fact, was allow us to share space without being at each other’s necks, while he passed down this way of working with land”

Rafa Esparza, on mending his relationship with his father through earth

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Esparza challenges institutional frameworks and addresses socio-political issues (e.g. immigration, race, and marginalization). His work, at its core, is about storytelling and resistance, using art as a platform to engage with broader discussions on identity and systemic injustice.

In Whitney’s 2017 Biennial, in New York City, Rafa Esparza’s Figure/Ground: Beyond the White Field, created an immersive microclimate.  What was once, a white cubed gallery is covered in what Esparza calls “brown matter,” adobes; a mixture of hay, clay, horse dung, and water from the LA River, baked under California sun, and transported across U.S. coast’s. By invitation fellow queer artists to become adoberos, and helped to collectively created nearly five thousand adobes for the installation.

“Brown matter” or adobe is used not only in reference to skin color, but also a broad range of conversations on race, nationality, ethnicity, and gender and the intersections therein. Most especially, concerns surrounding the 2016 U.S. Presidential election of Trump.

To complete the installation, five other artists were invited to exhibit their mixed-media artwork within the adobe rotunda. The adobe rotunda plays is both an artwork itself and a space for exhibiting the work of others (figure and ground).

References

• Juxtapoz, rafa esparza: A Sense of Generosity
• United States Artists: rafa esparza
• Common Wealth and Council: rafa esparza
• Queer Art: rafa esparza
• South West Contemporary: Figure/Ground
• Whitney Biennial 2017: Rafa Esparza

The Earth Campus in Tatale, Ghana, is a vocational training center designed to promote sustainable development through education and practical skill-building in one of Ghana’s rural regions, close to the Togo border. The project focuses on providing young people with the skills needed to support their families and counteract rural exodus. It is operated by the Salesians with the Don Bosco mission, which aims to empower the local community through sustainable techniques and education.

 

The campus offers training in sustainable construction methods such as adobe masonry, rammed earth, and timber structures. It also includes programs in agriculture, electrical training, domestic economy, and nutrition, giving students a broad range of skills. The campus is designed to incorporate local building traditions while teaching modern adaptations of these methods, blending vernacular architecture with contemporary sustainable techniques.

The use of local, natural materials such as earth plays a crucial role in reducing environmental impact while creating economic opportunities for the community. The project also uses natural ventilation strategies, ensuring comfort in the hot and humid climate of the region. The overall goal is to make the campus a model for how development projects can foster both environmental sustainability and social empowerment by maximizing local resources.

Through its design, the Earth Campus serves as an example of how architecture can be a tool for development. It challenges the conventional approach of using industrialized, imported materials in aid projects and demonstrates the benefits of building with locally available resources. This ensures that the added value remains within the community, fostering long-term sustainability and cultural preservation.

About the architect:

Anna Heringer is a renowned architect from Germany. She studied at the University of Art and Industrial Design Linz in Austria, focusing on sustainable architecture using local materials and techniques. Her work is rooted in creating environmentally and socially responsible architecture.

Heringer’s philosophy centers on sustainability and empowering communities through architecture. She emphasizes the use of natural, local materials, aiming to create socially and ecologically responsible structures. Her projects often focus on education, community development, and uplifting marginalized regions, particularly through vocational training and local engagement.

Anna Heringer runs her architectural practice, Studio Anna Heringer, with projects across the globe, including in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Europe. Her designs are grounded in cultural sensitivity and sustainable practices that challenge conventional construction norms.

Citations:

 

• Anna Heringer, “Tatale Earth Campus Project,” Anna Heringer Official Website, accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.anna-heringer.com/projects/vocational-school-tatale-ghana.
• Architecture for Hope, “Earth Campus Overview,” Architecture for Hope, accessed October 15, 2024, https://architectureforhope.com/work/earth-campus.html.
• Transsolar, “Tatale Educational Campus Project,” Transsolar KlimaEngineering, accessed October 15, 2024, https://transsolar.com/projects/tatale-educational-campus.

 

 

 

Built in 2008 in a small village called Rudrapur in Northern Bangladesh, the DESI (Dipshikha Electrical Skill Improvement) Training Center is a vocational school for electrical training. At the age of 19, the architect of this project, Anna Heringer, lived in Bangladesh for a year working with the NGO Dipshika on sustainable development. She quickly learned from her time in Bangladesh that the most successful development strategy is to “trust in existing, readily available resources and to make the best out of it instead of getting depended on external systems.”

The DESI Training Center uses traditional Bangladeshi homestead plans as basis for interrogation. As in many Central/South Asian home plans, the traditional Bangladeshi home consists of multiple structures possessing different programs situated around a central inner courtyard. The DESI building attempts to bring all of these different programs under one structure, while still utilizing traditional building methods.

The buildings main structure comprises of wattle & daub techniques utilizing thick bamboo as a lattice frame work to capture and give form to the piled earth added by hand.

In the image above, notice the circular mounds of excavated earth in the foreground. It is beautiful to realize the connection between construction and construction site sharing the same environment and materials simultaneously in an act of reciprocity.

Although a school for electrical training, most of the labor and energy placed into the build were still based on analog and traditional technologies. Here cattle are used to mix the soil that is to be used for the daub, engaging local workers and craftsmen in the process of the entire project.

It is interesting to witness an environment that was built to serve technology, in this case electrical technology, not take the form of its inherent use. A college campus may design and build an “engineering” building to feel like “engineering”, to feel technologically modern and well equipped for the learning that will occur within its walls, however the DESI Training Center shows us how these ideas and typologies can sometimes misinform the design process, and ultimately the design problem at hand.

The entire building is hooked up to solar panels for power, producing  100% of the building’s energy needs. The heating system is based on solar thermal technologies, and solar power also powers the pump for accessing water from the onsite well. This also perhaps (reference needs to be checked) the first time modern sanitary unties + septic tanks have been integrated into an earthen structure in Bangladesh.

The DESI building houses two classrooms, two offices, and two residences for the school instructors. There is a separate bathroom with two showers and two toilets for the teachers and a bathroom facility with toilets and sinks on the ground floor for the students. [source] Bearing no loss in traditional culture, material, or forms of making, this building embodies the possibilities of a modern earthen architecture applied to a specific set of requirements, needs, and programs. The DESI Training Center acts as model to realize the full potential an earthen architecture can deliver humans in the modern age, without having to compromise many facets of modernity that are considered incompatible with earth.

Size: 300m2

Location: Rudrapur, Dinajpur district, Bangladesh

Year: 2008

Photos: Team Rudrapur, B.K.S Inan,

Architects: Anna Heringer

References:

[1] https://www.anna-heringer.com/projects/desi-centre-bangladesh/ 

[2] https://divisare.com/projects/127081-anna-heringer-b-k-s-inan-desi

[3] https://www.archdaily.com/950704/desi-training-center-studio-anna-heringer

[4] https://archello.com/project/desi-dipshikha-electrical-skill-improvement

Location: Dinajpur, Bangladesh
Year: 2006
​Architect:  Anna Heringer

Site Plan, Source

Knitted Elevation, Source

Anna Heringer’s METI Handmade School in Bangladesh exemplifies an innovative approach to sustainable architecture, rooted in local materials and traditional building techniques. The school was designed to serve as a community hub for education, demonstrating how effective construction methods can enhance both functionality and environmental stewardship.

Cave Space, Source

Second Floor, Source

Floor Plan, Source

The building features two contrasting levels: the ground floor, with thick earth walls and three classrooms, creates a tactile, intimate atmosphere. Each classroom opens to an organic system of ‘caves’. The upper floor contrasts sharply with its light, open design. Bamboo walls allow sweeping views of the treetops and village pond, while sunlight filters through, casting shadows on the earth floor. Colorful saris hang from the ceiling, adding vibrancy to the space, which is designed for movement and connection to the surrounding natural environment. Together, the two levels balance earthiness with openness, offering both introspective and expansive experiences.

Facade Photo,  Source

The foundation of the building rests on a 50 cm deep brick masonry base, finished with a cement plaster facing. In Bangladesh, bricks are the primary building material, produced from the region’s abundant clayey alluvial sand, as natural stone is scarce. These bricks are fired in open circular kilns using imported coal, resulting in a durable and locally sourced construction element.

Construction Photo, Source

An essential addition to local earthen building practices is the damp proof course, consisting of a double layer of locally available polyethylene film. This innovation protects the structure from moisture, enhancing its longevity. The ground floor features load-bearing walls constructed using a technique akin to cob walling. A mixture of straw and earth, with minimal straw content, is prepared with the help of local livestock and applied in layers atop the foundation. Each layer is heaped to a height of 65 cm and then trimmed after a few days to maintain uniformity. After allowing for a drying period, successive layers are added, integrating door and window lintels along with a ring beam made of thick bamboo canes.

 

Section, Source

The ceiling of the ground floor employs a triple layer of bamboo canes, with the central layer arranged perpendicularly to provide lateral stabilization. This layer is topped with split bamboo planking and filled with the earthen mixture, mirroring techniques used in European timber-frame constructions.

For the upper storey, a frame construction is utilized, comprising four-layer bamboo beams and vertical and diagonal members arranged at right angles. This design enhances the structural integrity of the building, with the frames at the ends stiffening the overall structure. Additional structural members connect the beams, and wind bracing is incorporated on the upper surface to further strengthen the frame. Supporting the corrugated iron roof are a series of bamboo rafters, which are adjusted in height for optimal runoff, topped with timber paneling.

Facade, Source

Through its innovative design and construction techniques, the METI Handmade School not only provides an educational facility but also serves as a model for sustainable building practices. It engages the community, preserves traditional craftsmanship, and utilizes local resources effectively, making it a beacon of environmental and social responsibility in architecture.

 

Read more: Anna Heringer Website

Hope Village is located in Tanzania of East Africa, along the coast of the Indian Ocean. The main component of this project is the community center building, which is designed with complex earthen walls and a metal / wood roofing system. This community center will serve as a 480 student school, kitchen, dining hall, bakery, and storage space. Surrounding this main building will be housing for the children of the community, aged 3-18 years old.   This project is being created in collaboration with Hassell Studio, ClarkeHopkinsClarke Studio, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, EOC Engineers, and One Heart Tanzania. 

Sustainability is a major factor in the design and construction of the Hope Community Center, which, due to their 100% recyclability,  resulted in the selection of 3D printed earthen/adobe walls. These wall designs are being created in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, and prototypes are currently being built in Barcelona. The walls are currently designed in a lattice-type structure, allowing for significant air circulation within the community center as well as diluted light throughout the space. The soil used for the walls will be sourced from no more than 15.5 miles of the site, and the layers will contain thin wire mesh sheets to add to the structural integrity of the building. 

 

The adobe is expelled from the machine shown above to create the multi-layered lattice structure (Crane WASP Printing System). The plan is for technical experts from Hessel Studio, ClarkeHopkinsClarke Studio,  Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and EOC to travel to the site and teach locals how to use this Crane WASP technology. The machinery is then planned to be left there, with community members now able to operate it on their own and continue to develop their community spaces. 

 

The roofing system will be constructed out of local timber and a central steel beam. The roof “resembles a draped blanket. Comprising short pieces of timber, the roof will further be supported by cladding made of readily available corrugated metal sheet panels.” 

 

This image shows the combined  planned use of wood, corrugated metal sheets and steel beams for the construction of the roof. 

Construction of the village and the community center is set to begin in early to mid 2025. The intention of its construction is to involve the local community and provide job opportunities throughout the building process, all while prioritizing safety and access to crucial resources for local youth. 

Location: Hope Village, Kibaha, Tanzania

Architects: HASSELL, ClarkeHopkinsClarke

Charity/Partner: One Heart Tanzania @one_heart_co

Collaborator: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia 

Structural Engineering: EOC @eocengineers

Renderings: IMIGO @imigo.it

Start Construction: 2025

 

The Clay Rotunda is a cylindrical, free-standing structure that encloses the SE MusicLab, a high-fidelity music space inside the renovated Gurten Brewery in Bern. This innovative design uses unreinforced clay, a zero-waste, eco-friendly material, as its primary component. Standing 5 meters tall with a diameter of almost 11 meters, the structure was built entirely on-site over a period of 50 days using advanced robotic technology, assembling over 30,000 soft clay bricks.

The project was initiated by SE MusicLab, a high-fidelity music studio, with the design executed by a collaborative team involving experts from Lehmag (a specialist in earthen construction), Seforb (an engineering firm), and Brauchli Ziegeleien (a brick manufacturer). These partners share a commitment to integrating traditional materials with modern technology, striving to create sustainable, emission-free construction methods. Their collective goal was to push the limits of earthen architecture by blending computational design with ancient building techniques.

Design Concept
The slender form of the rotunda is stabilized by its undulating surface, which increases the footprint and prevents structural buckling. The geometry was carefully calculated using a computational model that integrated engineering requirements, material properties, and the construction process itself. Given the limited reach of the robotic arm and the natural shrinkage of clay as it dries, the structure was divided into trapezoidal sections. This segmentation was key to ensuring that each clay cylinder was positioned correctly and supported the structural integrity of the whole.

Material Innovation and Construction Process
To achieve the desired strength and malleability, a specific clay mix was developed, blending clay with sand, small stones, and water. This mixture was molded into cylindrical “soft bricks,” each 9 cm in diameter and 15 cm in height. A robotic arm then precisely placed and compressed each brick, reducing it by 40% of its height to create strong bonds between the units. The entire structure was built segment by segment, with the robot relocating to different positions as the project progressed. Throughout the process, 3D scanning was used to continuously monitor the structure’s geometry and adjust for any material shrinkage. Cracks that formed during drying were filled to maintain a consistent finish.

Sustainability Features
One of the key aspects of the Clay Rotunda is its commitment to sustainable building practices. By using clay, a natural material that can be recycled and returned to the earth, the project minimizes waste and avoids harmful emissions. The clay’s inherent qualities also contribute to the building’s interior climate, naturally regulating temperature and humidity, reducing the need for mechanical systems. This project pushes the boundaries of how traditional materials like clay can be reimagined through digital design and robotic construction.

Citations

 

• SE MusicLab Clay Rotunda. SE MusicLab, 2021, www.semusiclab.ch/project-clay-rotunda.
• Lehmag, Seforb, and Brauchli Ziegeleien. Clay Rotunda Process Report. SE MusicLab, 2021, www.semusiclab.ch/research-clay-rotunda.
• Lehmag. Earthen Construction Techniques in Contemporary Architecture. Journal of Sustainable Building, 2021, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 50-65.

 

Location: Gagosian Gallery, New York City

Completion: 2021

Architect:  David Adjaye

‘Asaase’ takes the form of a labyrinthine,  walls made from stacked blocks increasing in height toward a “conical vertex” in the center. The British architect’s first large sculpture was one piece to Social Works, a group exhibition of a dozen Black artists, curated by Antwaun Sargent, to engage with social space “as a community-building tool.”

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“It’s this idea of construction that works across many modes of sensory perceptions….it’s designed to create moments where the audience is just in – between earth. This is something people have forgotten how to do.”

 

 

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Constructing the rammed earth blocks began with a combination of crushed limestone and schist from New York, with the tops of the shorter walls at the perimeter revealing some of the loose aggregate from the process.

The ‘Asaase’ project incorporates a sense of collective memory and aims to evoke a deeper connection with the land, specifically traditional black architecture and historical identities. References to historic works of West African architecture such as the Tiébélé royal complex in Burkina Faso and the walled city of Agadez in Niger, can be seen in the sculpture’s maze form.

The project reflects on the unique essence of a place, drawing connections between the present and the past by examining Black communal spaces across the African continent. It delves into how these spaces served as central hubs for families and communities to gather.

The curved walls invite visitors to explore the spaces between the gallery walls and the piece before entering the spaces inside. These overlapping walls mean there are numerous ways to encounter  and move through the installation.

‘Asaase’ contemplates the idea of fragments—both in terms of physical spaces and the buildings constructed from the earth—that provided the backdrop to everyday life for Black individuals, symbolizing a connection to heritage and history. What Adjaye describes as “fragments of chambers,” can be demonstrated the most by the niche at the center of the maze.

References

• David Adjaye Tries Rammed Earth
• Adjaye Associates
• World Architects
• Photography: John Hill