ESX/COCA
Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo
November 1-December 15, 2024
Opening Reception: November 1, 6-9pm, artist present
Free and open to the public
Aurora PhotoCenter, Efroymson Gallery
1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis
Over the last decade, Colombian-born photographer Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo has focused her work on the indigenous communities of North and South America who protect sacred plants, water, and the rainforest. The exhibition ESX/COCA presents images that McNichols-Torroledo made at the Wasak Kwewesx School in the Nasa indigenous reservation of Toribio, Cauca, Colombia.
At the school, Nasa children are educated in the medicinal ancient rites of the coca plant and their relation to weaving and spinning practices done with the cabuya plant. Cabuya fiber is considered by the Nasa people “the hair of mother earth,” and it is as sacred to the Nasa as the coca plant. Classes at the Wasak Kwewesx School are led by a traditional doctor called ‘the Wala’ who educates children to become traditional doctors, midwives, and cultural leaders to ensure continuity of the Nasa culture.
The artist writes of the series, “As a group, the photographs pay tribute to the long history of struggles by the indigenous in the Andes to defend the coca plant and other aspects of their cultural heritage. As a Colombian artist, I seek to educate audiences about the medicinal values and practices of the Nasa regarding the proper usage of coca and to provoke reflection about a plant wrongly condemned to extermination, although the leaves have the power to save humanity, even of starvation.”
The beautiful prints in ESX/COCA were made using the platinum-palladium process, a contact printing process originating from the 1870s. This exhibition will be on view in Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery until December 15.
Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo is a Colombian born photographer who lives in America as a citizen. Her work bridges artistic and documentary photography by combining alternative photographic processes and digital photography, focusing on themes including exodus, immigration, climate change, and sustainability. McNichols-Torroledo’s work has been shown in solo and group shows in Colombia and America at Guichelaar Gallery/Big Car, FAR Center for Contemporary Arts, Swope Art Museum, El Museo Cultural Santa Fe, Pereira Museo de Arte, Museo La Tertulia Cali, John Waldron Arts Center, Gayle Karch Gallery, Galería La Cometa, Halcyon Gallery, Shircliff Art Gallery, Fotojueves, Centro Cultural del Oriente, Arts Illiana, Galería Sextante, McKendree Gallery of Art & Hettenhausen Center for Arts, Sala ASAB, and Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, among others. McNichols-Torroledo holds an MFA in Photography and MA in Literature from Indiana State University, and a BA in Communications and Journalism from Universidad Externado de Colombia.
Annual operating support for Aurora PhotoCenter provided by the City of Indianapolis through the Indy Arts Council. Additional support provided by the Efroymson Family Fund.