By Natalia de la Rosa
“Expanding the language of art through a practice grounded in territory and social transformation.”
Portrait of Edith Morales
Natalia de la Rosa: Edith, your relationship with the art world is unique. You have worked as an accountant for several decades, and this practice gave rise to your first artworks. Could you tell us more about this connection between accounting and the transition to a narrative, aesthetic, and political interpretation?
Edith Morales: In addition to my work as an accountant, in the 1990s, I became involved in contemporary dance, a practice I pursued for 15 years. At the same time, I began working with analog photography through workshops at the Centro Fotográfico Álvarez Bravo in Oaxaca. I was interested in developing photo essays addressing topics such as neoliberal globalization and its impact on local contexts. In this process, I realized that the narratives I could construct stemmed from the tools I had at hand—dance, imagery, and my experience as an accountant.
NR: Related to the previous point, your accounting knowledge has allowed you to develop a systematization model based on language and data, which has led to some unusual solutions in artistic creation. Could you elaborate on this? How would you describe the effectiveness of this method? What unexpected tools has your profession—and your experience in an accounting office—provided for the arts?
EM: In accounting, outcomes must be precise and supported by a systematic process. Interpreting the law is also fundamental in tax accounting.
Applying these tools to creative processes, such as using office supplies like paper, staples, physical files, and documents, or reflecting on the office space as a territory where I spend a third of my day, has allowed me to reframe and activate them in my artistic work. Each object used in this space, where I process information and transform it into an archive, has a certain generosity. This leads me directly to practices of exploration and resignification.
For instance, in the piece Dictamen (2015), I used the work paper format of an audit to present an artist’s book. Likewise, I gave new meaning to removed staples, turning them into a numerical vocabulary.
Morales, E. (2015). Dictamen, artist’s book.
NR: You once told me about your relationship with your family and how the role of women is perceived in contrast to male members. This understanding shaped the recognition of your role as a woman artist. Can you expand on how you’ve internalized this idea of a woman artist? How do you divide or integrate your multiple activities and professions?
My family migrated from a Mixtec community. My parents were farmers, and men had the right to land in those communities. When people migrate, they bring that way of life with them. Like many people, I eventually questioned the structure or the system. From that point, I started to approach things differently, especially the role of women, who often work as much or more than men but remain unnamed.
My dance training and accounting practice have allowed me to develop a system of time discipline and structure, which helps me navigate all the activities I engage in. I also think that women have a heightened ability to multitask.
Mixtecas, Portrait with Na Isabel, 2013.
NR: Another notable aspect of your artistic practice is its relationship to activism. How have you approached this intersection? How did your interest in defending maize and working with women’s groups develop? How important has the founding of Milpa Urbana been in facilitating these actions and generating responses to various social issues?
EM: I see it as a way of life; there is no other way to conceive it. At first, when I wanted to work on the subject of maize, I realized I knew very little. So I began researching, and along the way, I met others who were organizing the Espacio Estatal en Defensa del Maíz Nativo de Oaxaca (State Space for the Defense of Native Maize in Oaxaca). Over the years, I accompanied their work through community visits and activities. It became part of my life: the meetings, the issues around food sovereignty, water, migration, GMOs, and land, among others. Some of the organizations in the network also invited me to engage in community work around gender-based violence, using embroidery and art as tools.
Morales, E. (2022). Centro Ecológico Milpa Urbana, exhibition.
In 2020, with my husband Troy and another collaborator, we decided to create a space to share the communal vision of the milpa system in an urban setting. Recreating this collective practice and learning about the importance of food sovereignty and the milpa were the foundational reasons for creating Milpa Urbana. Other themes included planting, seed preservation, water care, land, language, traditional knowledge, and respect for shared resources—addressed through workshops on planting, composting, and microorganisms. Milpa Urbana is a space that receives and activates community proposals.
NR: Following up on the previous question—what does Milpa Urbana1 mean to you? What is its significance, and what has it helped to foster?
EM: A milpa can adapt to the physical conditions of the place where it is planted, so growing one in an urban environment allows it to respond to its context. Milpa Urbana makes it possible to replicate these learnings. It has shown us that we can learn how to work communally, adapting to the demands and needs of our environment.
It has become a biocultural space that activates projects around maize cultivation, urban gardens, seed conservation, local economies, nutrition, and mutual aid practices like guelaguetza or embroidery. It also offers a venue to present installations or share art as part of everyday life.
During the pandemic, a few places remained open, and Milpa Urbana was one of them. It became a meeting point for people who wanted to learn to plant and engage with issues of bodily care and environmental respect—what we often call “natural resources.” Some participants created their own spaces or incorporated these practices into their lifestyles. This has impacted people’s lives, even in small ways—such as deciding what to buy and where to buy food.
It also helps people understand where their sustenance comes from, whether it is part of a long or short supply chain and the difference. For example, it is not easy to forget that drinking water drawn from deep wells can contain arsenic or fluoride and how this affects health.
Another example is seed design: understanding it allows one to grasp its ability to reproduce and sustain itself. Milpa Urbana, like the milpa itself, adapts to the conditions and seasons of its participants. This project also gave rise to La Colectiva Milpa Urbana. Through an open call, we embroider while learning, reflecting, and sharing about maize, water, and climate change.
Morales, E. (2021). Híbrido, Parallel Oaxaca Gallery.
NR: We have discussed the formats you use in your work, you blend photography, video, artist books, and installations. How has your artistic language developed over time? How has your concept of the exhibited object changed depending on the context, especially given that some works are presented in galleries or museums? In contrast, are others shown at Milpa Urbana for a non-specialized audience?
EM: My training has allowed me to work with multiple formats. I use any tools that allow me to develop a piece and, throughout the process, I explore the possibilities for its presentation. Dance has given me a strong sense of otherness and space. The subject of territory is also a constant in my work. Being confined in a small office space for long periods or walking through open community spaces has given me distinct perceptions and dimensions to explore.
When proposing how to install or project a video in the communities, I consider the theme, the medium, and the space.
The works have a narrative that moves between confined spaces—such as Circulante (2017) and 32 metros cuadrados (2018)—which seem open but restrict movement from one place to another. On the other hand, works like Yoo cua nuniri reflect on territory and the milpa, or Semillas en resistencia (2025). For example, the ephemeral installation Híbrido (2021) was exhibited simultaneously in a white cube gallery and at Milpa Urbana, with maize plants growing as part of the piece integrating naturally. The goal is to deterritorialize museum spaces. Visitors to Milpa Urbana usually attend workshops and events and encounter elements related to maize in a different form, generating discussions that are part of the everyday life of that space.
NR: Finally, we have also talked about how your artistic, research, and professional practices have shaped a different notion of the archive. What are your thoughts on this?
Exploring the intersection of disciplines and their plasticity is a constant challenge. The way they complement each other—using accounting processes but infusing them with different kinds of data—has driven me to keep exploring the endless narrative possibilities that these tools can provide in the context of art and archives.
EM: Revisiting accounting processes to create artwork facilitates my production since I have done it regularly. These practices have become part of my creative process and enrich it. Moreover, they offer a way to present precise data. A clear example is Universos alternos (2015), a piece about inflation in Mexico. I am both moved and astonished by how a practice often underestimated, like archiving within an accounting system, can unfold vast artistic potential when used in the realm of art.
Morales, E. (2021). Híbrido, Milpa Urbana.
- Milpa Urbana is a biocultural and ecological art project founded by Edith Morales that reimagines the traditional milpa system within an urban setting. As Morales (2022) demonstrates in her exhibition Centro Ecológico Milpa Urbana, the project brings together practices of communal agriculture, seed conservation, food sovereignty, and Indigenous knowledge through a blend of art, activism, and education. It serves as both a living installation and a collaborative space where workshops, artistic interventions, and agroecological practices intersect to address contemporary environmental and social issues in cities. Morales, E. (2022). Centro Ecológico Milpa Urbana [Exhibition]. Milpa Urbana, Oaxaca, Mexico. ↩︎
