Eduardo

 

Eduardo left the north, California, to go to the south, Oaxaca. Work and adventure took her. She is a textile artist and she is known by another name. She decided to change it while in Oaxaca, following the story that her mother told her countless times. The story goes that before she was born the doctor had affirmed that she would be a boy because of the strong kicks and the powerful beating of her heart. The name that awaited her was Eduardo, but at birth they realized her gender and they named her Irma Sofía. During her stay in Oaxaca 2008-2010, she was working under the name of Eduardo Poeter. This pseudonym is part of a piece in process that questions not the aspects of transgender, but the ways we name the things of the world that surrounds us.

 

Her work in Oaxaca led her to travel the entire state with its 8 regions and 16 ethnic groups. She interviewed about 40 migrants who had left for the United States and who had returned to Oaxaca. Their stories were told by transforming the ethnic clothing of their region. The ethnic dress of a region usually speaks of the history of the community, in this case, the typical costume spoke of the history of the individual. She worked with artisans to make the pieces that totaled ten, which were presented at the Textile Museum of Oaxaca. After having finished her work, she realized that the first migrant of that project had been her. Her transformation had been as strong as any of the stories of the people she had interviewed, and she decided to do the eleventh piece which is this one.

 

In Oaxaca, she discovered the importance of plants, the relationship that every human being has with the earth, with its roots, with the ancestral knowledge. She also discovered the importance of community work through the concept of tequio and guelaguetza, the beauty of working by hand, the importance of craftsmanship. She learned to love Mother Earth, to respect her, to fight for her. She realized the great strength that is acquired when a community gathers, to work without hierarchies for the common good. She found that the simplest things are the most beautiful and that the family, whether by blood or by choice, is the pillar that sustains and inspires us. Her spirit was exalted and she found a spiritual awakening that led her to change her life completely.

 

Now she lives in Tecate, Baja California, in a house she built out of straw with adobe next to an ecological reserve on the slopes of Mount Cuchuma. This hill is a sacred place for the Kumiai, ethnic group of the region. She has an orchard where she grows her food and has a temazcal that she runs periodically. She is a member of a group of artists in Tecate that works on behalf of the community and is constantly searching for ancestral ways to heal and help her lead a self-fulfilling life.

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