Carolina Caycedo (b. 1978, United Kingdom) 

Sol Sonora del Sur, 2022 
Hand-dyed artisanal fishing net, lead weights, gold-plated polished steel plate, copper bells, jade stone, and brass keys 

Sol Sonora del Sur is part of the sculptural Cosmotarrayas series. The title of the series combines references to the cosmos and atarraya, meaning “cast net” in Spanish. These weavings reference traditional fishing nets used by many indigenous communities throughout Latin America, with the title of this work specifically honoring those produced by the Yaqui tribe and used on the Yaqui River in the State of Sonora, Mexico.  

The sculptures are part of an ongoing investigative project titled Be Damned, that the artist began along the Magdalena River in Colombia. She lived and worked in these waterside communities during the period before a massive dam was built, which blocked the river’s flow and had disastrous ecological and cultural effects on neighboring areas. The open or loose weave of the net sculptures represent the porous nature of borders between land, water, living beings and spiritual realms, as understood in the belief systems of traditional riverside communities, values being disregarded and lost within the context of these massive, militarized hydroelectrical projects.