Lesley Idrovo ’20

Lesley Idrovo
Lineage

Faith in nature is at the core of my family’s healing practices. With roots in Andean beliefs and practices, this knowledge is still used today and has been passed down generation after generation via oral tradition. It calls for a deep understanding of the power of nature and its healing qualities. With time, aromas, textures, as well as mixtures that may appear like potions from afar, become muscle memory. Combinations of different elements come to restore balance and health.

Although Catholicism has played a large role in my family for generations now, our healing practices are pieces that still remain with us from our undocumented past. There was a need to preserve the knowledge of my family. There was a need to archive* my family’s holistic medicinal practices.

The sculptural dimension of my work comes to piece together my understanding of faith today. It captures the evolution of Andean beliefs and the integration of Catholicism as well as the unexpected incorporation of 21 Divisones. Nonetheless, faith in nature remains at the core of this merge.

Piecing together parts of my religious identity has called for much reflection and close conversations with the women in my life, primarily my mother. As a result, it is as if I have built a shrine, one that glorifies the faith that has come to sustain my family and myself through many physical and spiritual journeys.

*Archive (n.): a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.