Where Does Copper Come From: Mayela Rodriguez
by Ricky Barajas
Something as rigid and heavy as copper does not often appear as the cornerstone of a conversation about movement, immigration and assimilation. But the connections that Mayela Rodriguez draws between the metal and her family show pieces of history lying just beneath the surface, ready to be excavated.
Presented by the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, Rodriguez’s recent exhibition Veins: Mining Family History Through Copper explores her family’s mythology and history around the metal.
“I chose the name Veins because like veins of copper in a mine, we have veins with blood. These are channels of trying to find or understand my history,” Rodriguez says. Growing up, she heard stories about her grandfather and his brother pitching rocks into the open quarry at Buenavista del Cobre copper mine in Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. Her great-uncle, Aurelio Rodriguez, went from a childhood of throwing rocks to a professional career in baseball playing for the Detroit Tigers.
While she was a graduate student at the University of Michigan, through extensive correspondence with the mine manager, Rodriguez received a 13 x 18 inch copper slab for free. Initially, she planned to explore her family narrative by recreating her uncle’s baseball cards in metal. But when she held the copper in her hands, the political implications of the material resonated with her, and her ideas began to shift. “I had to wonder why this mine is even considering me in this request,” Rodriguez says.
Copper holds a vital place in American infrastructure and culture. Electrical, telephone and plumbing systems need copper to function efficiently, using it for their paths, connections and routes. Copper also comprises the Statue of Liberty, a declaration to the world that all are welcome in this land, and pennies, featuring the depiction of President Abraham Lincoln, best known for ending chattel slavery in the U.S. Unfortunately, what symbols represent and the practices that people adopt in their name often deviate in ways that hold them in contention with each other. While the Statue of Liberty welcomes immigrants from the European continent, her torch does not light the same path for people from Mexico and South and Central America. This led Rodriguez to consider the symbolism of the copper and the concept of a “good” or a “useful” immigrant.
“I wanted a literal transformation,” she says. “This slab was profoundly boring at first, but then I began to consider the time and labor that went into mining, melting, molding, and shipping this slab. I thought, ‘I can’t change this copper. It’s already been pulled from the earth and formed into an unnatural shape, and then sent across the border. It had to become something good enough to cross the border.”
Inspired by the performance of existing with the slab, Rodriguez began to travel with it to different locations which her family once considered home. She was interested in how these actions change it and how handling the copper causes new colors and patterns to form on it from factors such as the oils on her fingers to exposure to the air. She even took the copper slab with her to a therapy appointment. “How do these actions change it?” Rodriguez asks. Though it holds the focal point of the exhibition, the copper slab was not exhibited. Instead, she displays scans and other images, including photos taken during all of Rodriguez and the copper’s travels.
“My viewers never get to see the copper, and in that way it becomes a myth. Just like my family members, it will be present in other ways,” she says. “I want viewers to take into consideration the myths and stories that have passed along. A lot of families have things like heirlooms and other objects that have these stories attached to them. I also want viewers to witness what I’m going through.”
In one version of these scans, the copper will be presented in a series of four foot curtains. The curtains are able to move and flow in ways that rigid metal cannot, and with each layer they create a looming, haunting effect that emphasizes the weight of family history.
Cover Image: Mayela Rodriguez, Copper, detail
