2022
Embedded Bricks is an ongoing project by Oakland-based artist Cristine Blanco inspired by land, labor, and lineage. During the pandemic, Blanco harvested clay from her backyard to create handmade bricks and invited the community at different gatherings to inscribe the bricks with their intentions. Participants were encouraged to contemplate their connections to ritual, protection, and care. The bricks in the gallery are arranged as a kusikus, a pattern that dates back to the 1400s in the Ilocos region of the Philippines. The wave-like movement of pattern, visible in certain angles, was thought to protect from evil by confusing harmful spirits.
backyard clay, inscriptions, sand, wood
Bricks with participant inscriptions buried towards the earth to keep intentions sacred.
2022
Archival inkjet print
Close up of participant inscriptions onto bricks