In Loving Memory of David Cuatlacuatl
(1989-2017)
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Rasquache is an exchange that develops new relationships between art and community beyond those of production and consumption. Rasquache functions as a cross-cultural mirror utilizing artistic community engagement as a tool to develop relational currency. Rasquache sees ourselves in one another.
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Rasquachismo is an aesthetic, a way of working, and a lifestyle where cultural wealth takes precedence. Rasquache is the ability to sustain communities with the tools at hand.
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Rasquache is convivencia; only taking what you experience through storytelling and memory. The exchange honors the spiritual connection between the people, the land, and the creative process, always keeping a love, appreciation and consideration for what is already here.
Rasquache is a seasonal artist residency and center taking place every summer (May-July) of every year in San Francisco Coapan, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. The location of the residency is of particular importance because of its cultural richness and relevancy to the artist brothers, Federico and David Cuatlacuatl's experience growing up as undocumented immigrants in the U.S. They both immigrated to the U.S in 1999, to reunite with their parents after being separated from them for almost five years. After fifteen years growing up as undocumented immigrants and unable to return back to Mexico, they were able to finally travel back to their hometown, San Francisco Coapan, in the summer of 2016. The purpose of their travel to Mexico was to host and establish the Rasquache
Residency at their parent’s house which had been unoccupied for more than twenty years. This project is a continuity of Federico's current artistic research which strives to disseminate topics of immigration, cultural sustainability, and social art practice.