(2019-2020)
Driven by the need to build belonging where I live (first The Hague then Vriezenveen, NL), to feel at home, I resolved to find a way to compost old belongings to make space for the new to emerge.
The trajectory was composed by researching composting with insights from Natural Sciences (microbiology, mycology, agronomy), theoretical (ecofeminism, critical theory, ecosophy) and of course practical (composting in heaps, fermentation composting, vermicomposting, among others). In parallel, I designed a composting process for my belongings represented by my family photographic archive.
My Family’s Archive
Before my grandmother died, she passed this film archive on to me. Made between 1955 and 1969, the archive contains documentation of the life and work of my family in Mexico, but also the bare roots where my family stands on.
Composting Sessions
The entire composting process happened across 9 months with a series of practices involving various events, participants and formats: Scavenging, Layering, Sound Scale, Mesophiles, A bag, Aguila Devorando Serpiente.
scavenging session – braking the archive into pieces 
scavenging session – braking the archive into pieces 
layering session – laying the pieces in associative constellations 
layering session – laying the pieces in associative constellations 
layering session – laying the pieces in associative constellations 
layering session – laying the pieces in associative constellations 
preparing the mesophiles dynamic 
mesophiles session – digesting the scraps 
mesophiles session – digesting the scraps 
mesophiles session – digesting the scraps 
mesophiles session – digesting the scraps 
Objects displayed on the fabric for Aguila Devorando Serpiente, Performance, Objects, the fabric, slides projection and accordion. UU, 2020 
Storytelling with haptic relations HKU performance. 
Storytelling with haptic relations HKU performance 
Storytelling with haptic relations. One of the slides, part of the story and my archive. 
Storytelling with haptic relations. One of the slides, part of the story and my archive. 
Storytelling with haptic relations UU performance 
Storytelling with haptic relations UU performance
Background
As a migrant in the Netherlands, and coming from
a family of exiles who fled the Spanish civil war and built a new life in
Mexico, to me belonging is entangled with displacement. Like many other people with displacement in their backgrounds, my family archive of film is a site to experience a sense of belonging. A kind of ground where I’ve felt able to root with loves, pains, nostalgia, oppression, privilege, heritage and the burden.
Gerardo Gomez Tonda 