Responding to the mandate set by the curators of ‘Localismos’, a month-long residential workshop in the heart of Mexico City, that artist-in-residence ‘work with materials and craftsmanship available in the historical center—so that from its conception, production and exhibition there is a coherent dialogue with the context’, I produced a series of works entitled Yo No Hablo Español.

This being my first visit to Latin America, I wanted to take a somewhat ‘passive’ role during the residency, such that my activities and cultural production would equal that of a tourist, consumer and student, rather than trying to convey a preconceived message to people I initially knew nothing about.

Yo No Hablo Español is a quite naive but sincere study of, and engagement with, local typography and craftsmanship. Not speaking any Spanish, I had to find other ways to navigate my relationships with the craftsmen whom I approached to produce for me a series of signs in a variety of techniques—letterpress, paper, cast and welded metal—that all spell out the sentence ‘Yo No Hablo Español’. To communicate, we used drawings, sign language and laughed a lot. I even managed to learn some Spanish though the process. The signs were then put back into circulation or displayed in the areas where they were created. The Spanish colonial welded piece now hangs at the entrance of Hotel Virreyes, where I stayed for the month, greeting tourists and locals alike. The business cards were distributed during the opening of the show as a means of introducing myself professionally.

I am extremely happy with this whole process as it both questioned and clarified my role as artist and visitor. Initially displaced by economic and linguistic distance from the people I eventually came to work with, I do believe that some genuine meetings occurred. In my commissioning of these signs, two lies converged into a new truth: the tourist’s desire for local exotica met the craftsman’s desire to sell out his own traditions. In the handshake, the parties understood each other perfectly and agreed on an exchange value, and a new object, with absolute integrity, was created.