Mexico's death masks and Canadian identity
Filmmaker to use a symbol of another country's identity to prompt thought about our own
Fernando Cienfuegos is courting chaos in the filming of his documentary, Behind the Sugar Skull and the Intangible Heritage.
“But it's organized chaos,” chuckles the Edmonton-based audiovisual artist over the phone from his home near Southgate.
It's all in the interest of art and identity. With the support of the Telus-funded STORYHIVE program, Cienfuegos has flown into Edmonton two Mexican artisans skilled in creating sugar skulls: small, decorated skulls made from a paste called alfenique and used primarily during Day of the Dead celebrations. They'll be taking over The Kitchen at the downtown library for a demonstration, workshop and filming as Cienfuegos completes the final part of his project.
This isn't just a straightforward cultural show-and-tell highlighting items that are recognizable parts of a Mexican tradition, however. During their visit to the Stanley Milner Library on Thursday and Friday, the two artisans, Araceli Lopez and Brandon Rodriguez de Paz, will be demonstrating their skills at making the skulls in an unfamiliar environment and out of their comfort zone, while Cienfuegos discusses the notion of identity. That's the “organized chaos” that Cienfuegos is setting up in order to test his theories
“Because they'll be made in Edmonton with all of the factors here, this is a way for me to show that the sugar skull is the result of multiple cultures,” he explains. “That's one result, something tangible. It's an object, and it's a symbol for Mexico. Now in Canada, we are at the time where we are constructing an identity in the future that will be the equivalent of the Canadian sugar skull. Except that we don't know what it's going to be. That is the discovery that I'm looking for, that is what I'm pushing for.”
Cienfuegos, who studied communications in university, has been intrigued by questions of identity for a long time now.
“A common book in Mexico that talks about this is Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz,” he says. “I'll be using some of his elements from the book to explain the Mexican identity. But there are other people as well who talk about how the Mexican identity is basically a construction, and it needs to adjust according to the political environment that we're living in.”
With Behind the Sugar Skull and the Intangible Heritage, Cienfuegos isn't actively attempting to direct Canadians to what their national symbols could be. Instead, he's suggesting possibilities, setting the wheels in motion, looking for hints. It's through conversation with the artisans that he hopes to discover a path forward for our country.
Cienfuegos, Lopez and de Paz are all from Toluca, the state capital of the State of Mexico and the centre of sugar skull production.
Despite the fact that his childhood home is ground zero for the industry, Cienfuegos isn't particularly interested in sugar skulls themselves so much as what they represent.
“With that environment, it's already there,” he explains. “It's something I didn't take into consideration at the time. Basically it was just a trigger for me to explore the meaning of the sugar skull, and how it represents identity. In Mexico we have the Spaniards, who invaded Mexico after 500 years of Arab dominance in their territories.
“Then there was the Jewish community. There's so many hybrids inside of this Spanish culture, and they've moved through those moments of transition to Mexico after the time of the Conquistadors.”
De Paz and Lopez, a lawyer who also makes sugar skulls and alfenique year-round at her shop Corazon de Alfenique, landed in Edmonton last week. It's been a busy schedule since. The two have been visiting sites like Fort Edmonton Park and Ukrainian Heritage Village in the company of Angel Mejia, who is helping them with their social media, as well as collaborating with Cienfuegos on video work. They also spent time early this week experimenting with their recipes, adjusting to humidity and other factors that will make their sugar skulls as much a product of this environment as it is Toluca's.
Whatever the outcome, Cienfuegos will be there documenting it and then analyzing the meaning.
“I'm still figuring it out,” he says, noting that the final cut of the documentary should be just under half an hour in length. “The whole intention is to be a really nice introduction. It's going to be, `OK, what are we doing now and what are our cultural elements?' So that's a good length to give the background and then start questioning what is going to be the future in our cultural identity as Canadians.”