Lola Martínez: I am the River Magdalena
Lola Martinez is a human rights activist from Mexico City. In her textile piece she has embroidered a message from the Magdalena River to the Atrato River:
I am the River Magdalena, the only living river in Mexico City. I embrace the River Atrato, in Chocó, Colombia. (Yo soy el río Magdalena, el único río vivo en la cuidad de México. Abrazo al Río Atrato en Chocó, Colombia). She has also embroidered the indigenous Nauatl symbols for water, to form a decorative border at the top and the bottom of her message.
With a population of 22 million and rising, Mexico City's natural environment is under extreme pressure at every turn. As the only living river in the conurbation, the Magdalena River symbolizes the fragility of water resources in a city which is growing daily as people leave rural areas in search of a better life.
