México feminicida y transfeminicida is a performance project carried out in public space as a call for resistance, solidarity, and a present free from gender violence. These actions are inspired by the elements of fire, earth, air, and water. The interventions were presented in the city of Guadalajara for four consecutive years (2020–2023), each March, in the context of International Women’s Day (8M). This performance corresponds to the element of water, and was activated at La Glorieta de las y los Desaparecidos, a space that was reclaimed by the families of the disappeared and of victims of femicide, and was renamed The Roundabout of the Disappeared. In this space of remembrance, a group of women smashed large clay jugs with metal rebars. These vessels contained hundreds of liters of purple cabbage dye, which has the particular property of being a natural pH indicator, turning red or pink when it comes into contact with acidic liquid.

When the jugs shattered, the purple liquid spilled over a large white cloth and reacted with the acidity of a hidden message, previously written using lemon juice: México feminicida y transfeminicida.

This piece was made with the generous support of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics of Georgetown University.

Note: the banner was hung over the structure only for a few minutes to dry.

México feminicida y transfeminicida: agua, Glorieta de las y los desaparecidos, Guadalajara, México, 2023. Photography by Salvador Hurtado

Video by Abby Taco