Hoyo de Gusano Maya, ( detalle)

The Mayan wormhole, in which Villaseñor overlaps the similarities between ancient concepts of the universe in the Maya world and new concepts of physicists in the 21 century, is an interpretation of “string theory”. These similarities motivated her to create the installation using iconography, appropriating images from prehispanic culture and from her own work. The imaginary from Marcela’s clips and photographs include modern-day Mexicans, her culture and herself.

One theory in contemporary physicists, called string theory, posits that the universe contains eleven dimensions. The Mayan people believed in nine dimensions or doors in the underworld and thirteen doors in the upper world. They utilized cardinal directions and colors as part of their description of the fabric of time-space dimension. The four quadrants, each divided in half, become magnets that attract specific kinds of spiritual energy. These energies are then portrayed themselves as colors. The Mayan people believed that in order to open a door or dimension and be reborn they needed to perform different rituals at caves, cenotes, hills and mountains to purify their souls.

In Villaseñor works she perform this ritual of reaching doors to find passages towards a new and different level in life. Pacal, the last king of the Mayan people, metaphorically helps her cross to a new stage or dimension.