Non-lost Territories

It is like building up in a dream

It is to become soil and never ground, but still change

This project takes an ejido[1] plot in Huitzilac, Morelos, Mexico, as its point of departure to examine the entangled notions of property, dwelling, and memory. This land, inherited yet uninhabitable, has been part of my entire life and continues to knock on the door of my memory, as if it holds answers about my present.

Under the question, What if the land has nothing to do with memory, but rather with a broken dream? I approach the space beyond cartographic logic to understand belonging beyond property. By exploring how territories hold family histories, political struggles, migrations, and historical transformations, I seek to create a tension between the process of dwelling, a place to live, and dreaming.

At the same time, the work reflects on what it means to dwell in a foreign land. If inheritance does not guarantee inhabitation, and ownership does not ensure belonging, then dwelling becomes less about possession and more about relationships. Exploring the connections between clay and architectural symbols, notions of land are articulated and, together with sound, an imagined landscape is constructed. Within this landscape, nature and care confront the fragility of property and its defense mechanisms.

[1] The ejido is the product of a legal process called land grant; the land is received by a population center. In its origin, therefore, there is no purchase: the land is obtained free of charge, and comes from expropriated haciendas, state lands... On the other hand, the sale and lease of ejido land is generally prohibited. The inheritance of an ejido plot is subject to special regulations, and ejido property is framed within a complex of state and parastatal institutions that also impose conditions upon it. (Bautista, 2015)