'El Coscatl' (The necklace) From the series 'So They Say'

"Lo Que Bien Se Prende, Nunca Se Olvida." What Is Learned Well Is Never Forgotten.

This piece come with a plethora of symbolism. Here is a description of the elements starting with the necklace from left to right.

   A fierce wolf inside the frame work of money: And so we're born into a world where society forces us to play it's evil game, the catalyst being money. Debt represents our past and credit, our future. Once we've mingled with the color of money we're subject to the pressures of the corporate institutions that watch us with ill intent. The power of money weighs on us all, this symbol is our struggle with it.

   The Rooster: “Love posses not, nor would it be possessed” This is why some men sometimes wield an iron fist around their significant others. For they know down deep inside that they do not have what it takes to love and respect with sincere compassion, so they squeeze, they threaten, they scare. And in many cases they keep that poor soul they call 'woman'. The stern narrow minded Cock represents those men.

   The world: This represents all the elements we need to coexist, the hands are creators hands of the celestial world, carefully balancing all the positive and negative aspects that are needed for life. It is also at the center for it is the most sacred of all things and should be respected. (more than it is now)

    El Agave on a bottle of tequila: The beautiful, intoxicating and ancient plant that sometimes feeds our souls. From it flows a substance that can bring ecstasy and sorrow and that is also to often abused. It is both a pit fall and valuable resourceful commodity our race.

   The skull with a crown of thorns, chili for nostrils and a baby chick in the hollow eye socket: Life and death and how it's ability to burn it's power into our psyches for all our lives. The crown of thorns is a reminder that ALL of our lives are sacred and that we each in our own ways give our lives up to something, no matter how insignificant or important.

Combined, they make up the experiences of life. Here you see a strong indigenous woman wear her wisdom proudly, with dignity, as it should be worn, for we are here to learn our own nature and that which is around us. Her conch is to remind herself to allow her inner true voice to be heard and never to be soft spoken about her true feelings, to call assembly and to unite her loved ones when ever possible. Her pistol is her willingness not to give in to violence but instead to show her ferocity to protect the people she loves and to do what is necessary to keep her life intact. The heart with it's inner peace and ability to summon the presence of creator, the empty hand represents the things she has lost via material and or persons and mirrored on the other side if a dove to show she is at peace with the hand fate has dealt. She accepts these loses. The scorpion is the love bite she once felt, she keeps it there to remind her that it is out there if she just takes the time to overturn the right stone. Her tattooed wounds on her hands are her sacrifices she has given and last the one on her neck simply means 'Live' She is all women.

Even with the symbols translated, they are up for their own interpretation.  Depending on each spectator.