Here is My Name, 2018

For her exhibition at Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University Bakersfield, Fernández presented a group of works that trace her walks through the evidentiary space of the aspen groves and the more elusive trails that once crossed the sierras. In the gallery a tree slab serves as a communal table, inspired by Bakersfield’s historical Basque boarding houses. On the surface traces of the mapping of arborglyphs are translated and shared. Obsidian, serpentine, pyrite, quartz, and shells, all found along the trails, create symbols and markers as they are embedded into the wood. Bits of stone and shell represent the geologic history of the high sierras as well as the geography of unrooted bodies. Never-ending lists of years are engraved into the bark next to lamentations of loneliness, reminiscent of jail cell walls. Four etched vessels contain organic materials that relate to the paths walked: sagebrush, sheep’s hair, water and dirt, offering another interpretation of the “four heads,” or lauburu, of the Basque, a traditional symbol of the four elements.