Where is My Ethnicity?

When Mexico is represented on a international event, like a World Expo, the Olympics or the WorldCup, mexicans proudly refers mostly to their Pre-Columbian roots. Mexico’s Aztec, Mayan and other ancient Mexican culture’s roots are shown in color and shape, to represent it’s cultural identity. Yet, more than 60% of the Mexican population is mestizo, a mixture of Spaniard with Amerindian. So, how should the Mexican ethnicity should be represented? Or is the lack of ethnic purity and identity itself? This issue is translated into a series of “Mestizing Stools”. They consist of several generations. The first group consist of stools that are painted in primary colors and carry a circular, triangular or squared top. Then these stools are mixed with one another to make a group of three new stools, and so on until the fourth generation. Finally the process ends when the stools become brown, and their shape bares little resemblance to their ancestors.

This project was developed during the IM Conceptual Design program at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2009