Totem Latamat's next chapter

Totem Latamat in the spring

The Crichton, April 2022

When does a story end?

When do we say goodbye?

Was that the end of the story? 

Back in November we took the magnificent Totem Latamat to its resting place at The Crichton in Dumfries. In accordance with the artist Jun Tiburcio’s wishes, we laid Totem down there to decay gently: a gift grown in the earth of Mexico and given now to the earth of Scotland. A “happy ever after” ending? 

Or maybe “and so it is over”. 

But of course, stories do not often actually end. They just turn a page and step into a new chapter….

 

Totem Latamat came to the UK to share a story, to offer an invitation and a challenge in the run-in to COP26 in November 2021. Commissioned by the Border Crossings' ORIGINS Festival, the Totem’s story started in a woodland on the eastern coast of Mexico with a prayer and a ceremony to a cedar tree. The story continued through a village carving its words as images, memories, hopes and fears into the wood and sailing the tall carved Totem, across the wide seas to the UK. Over the autumn, the Totem travelled the UK, reaching Glasgow in time to stand in the Hidden Garden throughout COP26. Then, Totem Latamat arrived at The Crichton in Dumfries.

 

Indigenous artwork, Totem Latamat has travelled over 9,000km from Mexico to UK for COP26. Moving up the country, the 4.5m Indigenous Mexican response to climate change is travelling to important cultural hubs across the UK including London, Coventry, Milton Keynes and Manchester drawing powerful links between Indigenous experience and local heritage. From the Border Crossings' ORIGINS Festival news about Totem Latamat. 

Find out more here:

https://originsfestival.bordercrossings.org.uk/

 

At the Crichton, I was part of the team who formally received the Totem as a gift, welcoming it this land, this sky, these people, this weather:

Totem Latamat, 

With the earth of our land,

The bones of our people,

The dreams of our poets,

The songs of our seals,

We embrace you. (Ceremony account here)

 Now, a season later, I was back to pick up the next chapter of that Totem story. Reclining on grass, Totem Latamat weathered the winter well: paint a little faded, a wing a bit cracked but a tranquil face still lay there gazing up at Dumfries’ spring clouds  and feeling the grass growing around it. We were quite relieved that the wasps we found settling comfortably into Totem’s hollows back in November had moved on and now we could sit beside Totem, sit on Totem, run toy cars and teddy bears along Totem’s length and enjoy having her there to interact with. (Her? Him? It? Them? I am not sure so I tend to shift to and fro!). 

 

With visitors, we made seed bombs: delightful cake mixes of compost and water and seeds. Some were planted here, tucked into holes beside the Totem, others went back to homes to grow in gardens, in pots in window-boxes, connecting Totem and its hummingbirds with the people of Dumfries. Over the summer, we hope these seeds will give Totem a new coat of leaves and flowers and invite butterflies, bumblebees and other pollinators to stop by. Then just as we find Totem a place to pause and reflect, so will these vital pollinators.

 

 

We also made finger-puppets, telling the stories of the animals that visit Totem there on the lawns of the Crichton. There were butterflies that perched briefly on coloured carvings. There were ladybirds crawling and mice scurrying. Dolphins and sharks sang strange songs from the Solway, echoing, whistling voices wandering in from the estuary. And when we were gone, when the gardens were quiet, beautiful, magical creatures, unicorns, dragons, and rainbow deer slip silently through shadows and gather round Totem to listen to the Hummingbird messengers, to carry the Eagle’s strength and the Seeds’ promise out of the gardens and into the dreams of the sleeping people of the Borders.

 

This was the second of our Totem Latamat at The Crichton events. I’ll be back in late August for a storytelling day there and an exciting winter event is planned with shifting shadows, flickering lights and glowing lanterns!