I've never heard of Marion C. Martinez and was interested in Catherine S. Ramírez's essay Deus ex Machina. Martinez uses scrapped computer parts to build catholic and native iconography. Martinez grew up in New Mexico and has debunked the Department of Tourism's slogan of "the spicy mix the is New Mexico." The slogan and tourism, "...have emphasized a "Spanish" [identity] rural and of the past."(151)
By making traditional retablos and saints using present day technology Martinez pulls the past into the present day. She also, "underscores New Mexico's history as a dumping ground for the remnants of twentieth-century technology." (147)
The black and white image in the essay does not do the work justice. I love the push and pull of folkish and circuit boards and the colors that were chosen. My favorite are her indigenous pieces. Living in Boyle Heights I always see the virgin made out of various found object, clocks, hologram pendents and the list can go on. I feel the image to the right is a time machine. We know the ancient indigenous peoples built observatories and had a connection with space. This work recognizes this ancient knowledge with contemporary digital components paving a way to the future.
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