32 33

HEAVY BLOOD

Among the ruins

We lie in wait
Because of the devastation Naomi Rincón Gallardo
We are carriers of waste Zacatecas, Mexico
34 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 35

One of today’s central modes of perpetuating racial capitalism in

the Global South, in addition to expanding prisons and security
regimes, is in fact mega-extractive projects, such as large dams and
mines, which require huge technological and resource feats as well The racialized politics of dispossession, displacement, and discrim-
as what Enrique Dussel refers to as the “developmentalist fallacy,” ination; the fabrication of disposable peoples and forgotten terri-
or the imposition of modernity as a universalized mode of gov- tories; the exploitation of resources, of female reproductive labor;
ernance. State and corporate-designed mega-development projects masculinity itself: all constitute the nexus through which “south-
operate through an economic rationale without calibrating for ification” is produced. During colonial times, mountains were
the life forms that exist beneath the gaze of such grand schemes. displaced, rivers rerouted, forests destroyed, and plants, animals,
Extractivism functions within what Anibal Quijano first coined as and humans moved around. Postcolonial ideology of development
the colonial matrix of power, where corporate entities and states ­followed the same logic: nothing would stop human desire to
are indistinguishable in their economic interests and activities; shape its environment and remake it in its own image.
states act on behalf of corporations, and corporate entities hire — Françoise Vergès, “Like a Riot”
security forces to control and suppress anti-extractivist organizing.
— Macarena Gómez-Barris, The Extractive Zone
36 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 37

I walk around a crushed hill in Vetagrande, Zacatecas. I shudder at

the thought of previous detonations in this semi-desertic landscape:
how, on earth, can a hill be split this way? I am dry to the bone. There
is a massive pile of tritured grey stones that become a growing toxic
cemetery. The dusty particles enter my lungs. My sneakers and
jeans catch all thorns and splinters. Some sun-burned cacti here and
there. Glittering shredded minerals can’t help being enticing. I walk
further up and find a lookout: the ghostly colonial town to the left,
a huge crater surrounded by a prefabricated housing complex for the
newcomer miners to the right.

Vetagrande literally means “big vein.” It is located a few

kilometers away from the capital of the State of Zacatecas.
Also called Zacatecas, it was founded in the sixteenth century
as a mining town under the Spanish colonial regime. Since
then, the so-called “Curse of Minerals” has spread through-
out the region. The local people refer to this curse because
the territory has been plundered for five centuries due to
its rich ­deposits of silver, copper, zinc, and other minerals.
A more recent extractivist wave—led primarily by Canadian
and American companies—has followed in the twenty-first
­century, further dispossessing the local communities with
regards to their usufruct rights over their natural environment.
Extractivism comprises a dramatic intervention into
the social and ecological life under the arrangements of
racial capitalism.1 The profit goes to the Global North. Local
governments justify their legal contortions and corrupted
arrangements with transnational capital under the banner of
development. The Global South keeps the toxicity, enforced
displacement, militarization and paramilitarization, disap­
pearances, natural devastation, and a premature exposure
to death for entire populations. The big vein is an open,
bloodless wound.
The history of colonial violence and dispossession,
together with the mass extinction of myriad life forms, raises
human and non-human ghosts that populate the extractivist
zones. “Heavy Blood” is a storytelling project that plots
spectral creatures mumbling and gobbling among the toxic
ruins of Vetagrande, Zacatecas. I picked the ghosts for the
narrative on my walks along the crushed hills, on my visits to
the local archive of photography and the historical archive,
from newspapers and journal articles, among interviews and
conversations with journalists and activists, and, finally, in
a local community mining museum where I interviewed the
widow of a deceased miner who was also the founder of
the museum. The non-linear narrative of the video is divided 1 Macarena Gómez-Barris, The
­Extractive Zone: Social ­Ecologies
↑ Vetagrande in the Mexican state of into six parts: Lungs; Prophecy; Hummingbird; The Lady of and Decolonial Perspectives
Zacatecas; photo by Naomi Rincón (Durham: Duke University Press,
Gallardo, 2018 the Copper Teeth; The Curse of Minerals; and, Heavy Blood. 2017), xvii.
38 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 39

What is a monster? (A monster is one who has been wronged and

seeks justice.) Why do monsters interrupt? (Monsters interrupt
when the injustice is nearly forgotten. Monsters show up when
they are denied; yet there is no understanding the monster.) How
does one get rid of a monster? (There is no permanent vanquishing
of a monster; monsters can only be deferred, disseminated; the
door to their threshold can only be shut on them for so long).
— Eve Tuck & C. Ree, “A Glossary of Haunting”

↑ Sketches for Heavy Blood by Naomi

Rincón Gallardo, 2018
40 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 41

LUNGS

A performer plays two different characters: a miner and a

phone sex worker. Each of the characters appears on parallel
screens. They are both in a community museum of mining,
surrounded by moldy walls and rusty objects. The miner
performs mechanical movements while he breathes heavily;
the phone sex worker performs different prosodies, from
moans of pleasure to choking. The class, racial, and gender
subordination gets into their proletarian lungs. The two
characters accelerate the rhythm of their breathing, almost
to the point of suffocation. When they can no longer stand
it, they spit out a black substance. A double-figure wrapped
in black mesh plays muffled saxophone sounds.

PROPHECY

The character now appears in the desert, holding a tape

­recorder. A voice-over tells of a prophecy:

You know what our grandparents used to say: in the

­final reckoning, darkness will fall, and bloodthirsty
maidens will come down and devour us. And then the
world will be transformed. 2

Masked figures with cacti-fiber wigs come out from the

bushes and cacti in the desert. They resemble a Mesoamer- ↑ Bárbara Lázara in Heavy Blood
(HD video, 18’46”), by Naomi Rincón
ican deity, Tzitzimime (toothed vaginas), whose voracious Gallardo, 2018

energies come to announce the renewal of the cycles. The 2 This passage is ­adapted from Annals
of Juan Bautista, a compilation of
↑ Video stills, Heavy Blood (HD video, character puts a mask on, becoming one of them. She smiles texts written in náhuatl (the l­anguage
18’46”), by Naomi Rincón Gallardo, of the Nahua p ­ eople in Mesoamerica)
2018 and shows her copper teeth. from the sixteenth century.
42 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 43

HUMMINGBIRD

A hummingbird dwells among the ruins of a mining land-

scape in Vetagrande. According to the Mesoamerican
cosmologies, a hummingbird is a warrior fallen in combat,
a symbol of sexuality, and a sacred creature who connects
the sky with the land. The crafty, artificial hummingbird in
“Heavy Blood” seeks flower nectar and shelter in the desert,
but her native landscape has been blown up. Disoriented,
s/he holds her flight in a vanishing landscape projected on
the green screen. S/he finds and enters a cave where s/he
meets the Lady of the Copper Teeth, with whom s/he has an
intimate interspecies encounter.

Flecha Arrow
Espina sangre Blood thorn
Borracha de miel Drunk on honey
Inmóvil en el aire Motionless in the air
Zumbando sortilegios Humming incantations

Nómada Nomad
Vuelo vibrador Vibrating flight
Libando el nectar Sipping the nectar
En intercambio mutuo In a mutual exchange
Para una muerte pasajera For a fleeting death

Picaflor Hummingbird
Caldera interior Inner boiler
Guerrero caído en combate Warrior fallen in action
Alas batientes que guían Wings flapping and guiding
A los que desaparecieron como por magia Those who disappeared as if by magic

Zurda Lefty
Piedra tornasol Iridescent stone
Dardo que se desplaza Dart moving back
A sus paisajes natales To its native landscapes
Ruinas tóxicas y cerros triturados Toxic ruins and crushed hills

Vuelan Flying
Larga ruta A long way
Los resucitados The resurrected
Que mueren en la sequía That die off in the drought
Y reviven con las lluvias And come back to life with the rains

Desierto Desert
Vine a buscar I came to look
A la mujer que se quema For the burning woman
La de los dientes de cobre The one with copper teeth
La destructora telúrica. Monstruo The world destroyer. Monster
↑ Video still, Heavy Blood (HD video,
18’46”), by Naomi Rincón Gallardo,
2018
44 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 45

THE LADY OF THE THE CURSE OF MINERALS

COPPER TEETH

Among the gray crushed stones of the open-pit mine, the

Lady of the Copper Teeth has a strange picnic. Sitting on a
blanket, she intoxicates herself with a red drink while smoking
water pipe. She sucks the red liquid from a plastic bottle
through a hose. She smokes and coughs. Devoted to her
oral toxic cravings, she enjoys herself in the ruined landscape.
She plays a tape recorder, and the gang of Tzitzimime
­accompany her and join her in her vices. They get ready to
satisfy their hunger for revenge.

The Lady of the Copper Teeth explores the resonance

of her visceral voice within her body and within the cave’s
rocky walls. She records herself on a tape recorder. She
resembles a Mesoamerican female figure, Tlantepuzilama,
an old f­earsome lady who lives in a cave and goes out only
to please her appetite with the blood of children and human
hearts. She is a part of a legion of Mesoamerican female ↑ Video still, Heavy Blood (HD video,
18’46”), by Naomi Rincón Gallardo,
earthly creatures whose destructive forces help the renewal 2018

↑ Bárbara Lázara in Heavy Blood of the cycles of life and death. The Lady of the Copper ↖ Bárbara Lázara in Heavy Blood
(HD video, 18’46”), by Naomi (HD video, 18’46”), by Naomi Rincón
Rincón Gallardo, 2018 Teeth howls and hums earthly sounds of a hurt land. Gallardo, 2018
46 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 47

HEAVY BLOOD

The gang of Tzitzimime play saxophones and drums in

the desert. The Lady of the Copper Teeth dances along in
choreography of self-defense while she yells this song:

Desde las ruinas Among the ruins

Nuestras vidas al acecho We lie in wait
Por el expolio Because of the devastation
Portadoras del desecho We are carriers of waste
Desde las ruinas Among the ruins
Aguantando la rapiña Enduring the ransacking
Desde las ruinas Among the ruins
En defensa expulsiva We defend and drive out

Sangre pesada Heavy blood

Resiste, persiste Resisting, persisting
Sangre pesada Heavy blood
Necea, perrea Hanging tough, twerking
Sangre pesada Heavy blood
Más deseante que deseable More desiring than desirable
Sangre pesada Heavy blood
Durable e indomable. Enduring and indomitable

Inhala Breathe in
Exhala Breathe out
Liba! Sip!
Escupe! Spit!
Deglute! Swallow!
Muerde! Bite!
Arranca! Destroy!

Blue grabbing! Blue grabbing!

Land grabbing! Land grabbing!
Pussy grabbing! Pussy grabbing!

Aunque sedientas seguimos escupiendo Though parched, we keep spitting

Aunque chimuelas vorazmente mordemos Though toothless, we bite ravenously
Aunque explotadas viviendo en exceso Though exploited, living in excess
Agazapadas lamiéndonos los dedos Hunkering down, licking our fingers
Muertas fallidas comiéndonos las uñas Failed corpses, chewing our fingernails
Intoxicadas con hambre de venganza Drunk on our hunger of revenge

↑ On the set of Heavy Blood, by Naomi

Rincón Gallardo, 2018; photo by
Angélica Canales
48 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 49

Tool

GHOSTS & MONSTERS

IN LANDSCAPES
OF DISPOSSESSION
How is it, Lady of the Copper Teeth, peoples who have been made killable,
to be a monster? disappeared, or made extinct find ways
to make themselves known and felt. In
The Lady of the Copper Teeth describes the landscapes of dispossession, death
it this way: in my organs, I feel the is not something that will happen at
beating bodies that have disappeared, the end of life, but instead is inti­
the goats that no longer come to graze, mately imbricated within life itself.
the crops that are gone—the alfalfa, How can we make space for ghosts
the beans, the oats, the corn, and the and monsters? How can we facilitate
prickly pear used as fodder. My hills their appearance?
are gone. My skin is all flayed. Noth­ The ghostly realm is not exclusively
ing is left of the plants that used a human matter. Human destruction and
to cover the ground. My teeth and my the compulsive extractive powers that
rocks have gotten loose. Even my deep­ attack the planet produces non-human
est wells are poisoned. I am dry to ghosts. The mass extinction of life
the bone. I am soaked in cyanide and forms on earth comes along with an
mercury. My blood is clotted with overpopulation of multispecies ghosts.
lead. They call my open veins strate­ They re-appear within extractive zones
gic resources. In exchange, they give and abandoned industries; they grow
me bottled water. But I am not here like stubborn, unwanted weeds. Among
to talk about my pain. I came here to the haunted ruined landscapes, traces
recruit others like myself. Because we of disappeared ways of life radiate
are legion. In spite of all this cru­ a ghostly light that resonates with the
elty, we keep designing obstacles to uncanny atmosphere.
progress. In spite of all this cruelty,
we hunker down in the wasteland and (1) Avery F. Gordon, Ghostly Matters:
gauge the extent of our revenge. Haunting and the ­Sociological
Imagination (Minneapolis:
* University of Minnesota Press,
­
2006).
Ghosts and monsters appear when un-
resolved social violence makes itself
known.(1) Animals, life forms, and
50 HEAVY BLOOD Naomi Rincón Gallardo 51

Activity

The following activities are suggested for groups or

individuals who live in haunted places among haunted
societies and want to invite ghosts and monsters into
their worldmaking.(2)

RECOGNIZING THE GHOSTS & MONSTERS

∙ Walk the streets and landscapes of a place that is

important to you, where you base your research,
work, or life. Consider the possible risks of your
presence, and take precautions against possible harm.

∙ Find out what and who was suppressed in the making

of this place. Talk to people who know its stories,
visit archives, do some reading. Take notes.

∙ Identify the marks, sensations, apparitions, and

past histories of violence, which still l
­inger
in the present. How have forms of d
­ispossession,
exploitation, and repression impacted life in
these places? Try to recognize what is not or no
longer said, but remains felt. Describe—with
as much detail as possible—what it feels like and ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
how you recognize these marks of the past. Keep ● Galeano, Eduardo. The Open Veins of ­Latin
­taking notes. America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of
a ­Continent. Translated by Cedric Belfrage.
∙ Identify the human and non-human ghosts in this ­London: Monthly Review Press, 1997.
place. How do they demand their recognition? Which ● Tuck, Eve & C. Ree. “A Glossary of Haunting.” In
affective register do they occupy? Are they melan­ Handbook of Autoethnography. Edited by Stacy
cholic, furious, longing, or plotting their revenge? H. Jones, Tony E. Adams, and Carolyn Ellis.
Keep taking notes. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2013. 639–56.
● Vergès, Francoise. “Like a Riot: The Politics
of Forgetfulness, Relearning the South, and
FACILITATE THEIR APPEARANCE the Island of Dr. Moreau.” South Magazine 9
(­documenta 14 #4). Online at: documenta14
.de/en/south/25_like_a_riot_the_politics_of
∙ Now, drawing from your notes, cook up a séance. _forgetfulness_relearning_the_south_and_the
Compose a speech or a spell to welcome the ghosts _island_of_dr_moreau.
and monsters. Gather objects that can attract them.
Make a guest list and welcome who shows up. Create
the right atmosphere (think of sounds, smells, pro­ CREDITS
jections, and lights). Heavy Blood, by Naomi Rincón Gallardo. HD video,
18’46’’, 2018. Shot in Vetagrande, Zacatecas,
∙ Visualize them. Make collages and sketches by Mexico. Performers: Lady of the Copper Teeth
collecting different images from various sources.
­ – Bárbara Lázara; Toothed Vaginas Ensemble –
Consider texture, smell, size, scale, density.
­ Karina Rivera, Azalia Morales, and Rosalba Lira;
Hummingbird – Naomi Rincón Gallardo. Lyrics and
∙ Try out different camera movements as if following Texts: Naomi Rincón Gallardo. Musical Composi-
these ghosts. Record different sounds, and create tion: Federico Schmucler. Cinematography: Dalia
Huerta. Drone: David del Hoyo. Direct Sound: Elda
a sonic atmosphere emulating the sounds they make.
Ortiz y Servando López. Photo documentation:
Also, write down their demands and amplify them.
Angélica Canales. Choreography: Marta Sponzilli.
Production assistants: Fernando Salcedo and Eric
∙ Bring together these elements into an exercise of Nava. Masks: Jorge Luis Guerrero and Abelardo
apparition, divination, or telepathic communication. Piña. Seamstress: Emilia Robles. Special thanks
to the research group FWF / PEEK “DisPossession:
Post-Participatory Aesthetics and the Pedagogy
(2) See also, Janine Jembere’s chapter ­
“Paperlands” of Land.” Heavy Blood was commissioned by XIII
in this volume, 121—43. FEMSA Biennial “We Have Never Been Con-
temporary.” Zacatecas, 2019. All film stills and
photographs in this chapter: reproduced courtesy
of Naomi Rincón Gallardo, the artist.