{"id":8263,"date":"2026-09-10T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8263"},"modified":"2026-09-10T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:26:00","slug":"anna-ortiz-traverses-the-multiple-realities-of-the-borderlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8263","title":{"rendered":"Anna Ortiz Traverses the Multiple Realities of the Borderlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Anna<\/p>\n

In Mesoamerican folklore, the jaguar is a prominent nagual<\/em>, a being with the power to morph into an animal. Moving from one realm into another allows this hybrid creature to act as a spiritual guide through unknown territories. For Anna Ortiz<\/a>, the jaguar is also a fitting metaphor for entering into a mythic borderland.<\/p>\n

Drawing on her Mexican-American heritage, the artist renders remote landscapes through limited, yet vibrant palettes. Ortiz favors subtle shifts in tone and saturation, painting jungle terrain in shades of blues, greens, and pinks. The focused palette emphasizes the fantastic world we\u2019ve entered into, one that appears variable and as a manifestation of myth.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cInundada\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her new body of work, Shapeshifter<\/em>, Ortiz expands upon her interest in the borderlands<\/a> and what happens when time and space collapse. Recurring motifs of an explosive volcano, double moon, and reflective pools of water position this uncanny realm as one in which multiple realities coexist and change is inevitable.<\/p>\n

Ortiz\u2019s pieces feel like visual pairings to the work of feminist writer Gloria Anzald\u00faa<\/a>, whose conceptions of mixed heritage, the borderland, and the nagual<\/em> the artist echoes in paint. Anzald\u00faa\u2019s 1992 essay \u201cThe New Mestiza Nation\u201d is a fitting companion to Ortiz\u2019s practice, particularly the following passage:<\/p>\n

\n

Certain aspects of identity don\u2019t disappear, aren\u2019t assimilated or repressed when they are not in the foreground. Identity is a changing cluster of components and a shape-shifting activity. To refer to a person who is changing identity I use the N\u00e1huatl term nagual<\/em>\u2026 We shift around to do the work we have to do, to creative the identities we need to live up to our potential.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ortiz\u2019s Shapeshifter<\/em> is on view through October 31 at Chart Gallery<\/a> in Tribeca. Explore more of the artist\u2019s work on her website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cJaguar Reflejado\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cEspejo Obsidiana\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cEl Corredor\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cFloracion\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cLas Garzas\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cEquilibrium\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cUn Eclipse en Doble\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Anna Ortiz Traverses the Multiple Realities of the Borderlands<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Mesoamerican folklore, the jaguar is a prominent nagual, a being with the power to morph into an animal. Moving from one realm into another allows this hybrid creature to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}