I Lost the Keys to Apartment 302

RAZA

Laura and Valentina Caraballo

Presented in partnership with the Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation (ICAI)

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A dream  

It feels like a dream                                                      
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Mom! Have you seen the keys?

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I wonder when I lost them

I wonder if someone took them

Or if I sold them

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I wonder if the walls still have the marks

of my teeth sinking in them

I call them to come take me home

The line does not ring

The phone, the recipient, the need

Nothing exists

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This is all I could keep

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Perdi las Llaves del Apartmento 302

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Un sueño

Se siente como un sueño

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Mamá! Has visto las llaves?

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Me pregunto cuando las perdí

Me pregunto si me las quitaron

O si las vendi

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Me pregunto si las paredes

todavía tienen las marcas

de mis dientes hundiéndose en ellas

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Los llamo para que me lleven a casa

La linea no suena

El telephono, el receptor, la necesidad

Nada ya existe

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Esto es todo lo que queda

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RAZA is a newborn multi-medium art collective formed by South American artists Valentina and Laura Caraballo, seeking to further their understandings of the self and world through art.

Valentina Caraballo is a visual arts student interested in exploring the self and psyche as connectors of the general experience and as a means of understanding herself and others.

Laura Caraballo is an artist inspired by her Political Science background who seeks to externalize her ongoing discontent with the establishment through 2D imagery representing social issues.

The artists bring their different approaches and artistic skills together by agreeing on concepts with shared significance and utilizing the intersections of their creative expressions as guides.

RAZA was born from a sense of otherness, informed by the artists’ immigrant experience, and the relief art provided and continues to provide. The collective seeks to become a space where otherness is necessary and invited while exploring and learning new forms of creating, understanding, and unlearning.

‍I Lost the Keys to Apartment 302 was possible with the kind and continuous support of the Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation (ICAI) and The Bows.

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The Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation is an arts council based in Calgary, Alberta; it was founded in January 2019 with the purpose of connecting newcomer artists with the existing arts community in Calgary. We strive to provide resources and information that would help newcomer artists turn their passion and creativity into thriving careers or businesses.

ICAI actively encourages diversity of expression and culture through the creation of a safe and welcoming community hub where newcomer artists feel free to express their distinct cultural identities through their arts. ICAI acknowledges funding from the Calgary Arts Development.

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The Bows is an artist-run centre in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory. Our core goals are: to support the development, creation, and presentation of new work by early-career artists; to provide affordable studio space for Calgary-based artists; and to broaden the reach and scope of contemporary art in Calgary, with the ultimate, if ambitious, aim to expose Calgarians to artistic work that explores pressing contemporary issues. We work toward these goals with an artist-centric approach that prioritizes the wholesale support of artists; creative and radical uses of spaces outside of the gallery; and a curatorial focus on projects and practices that dovetail with the specific socio-political, cultural, colonial, economic, and Indigenous histories and contexts of Alberta. Ultimately, The Bows strives to empower and support artists to imagine radical futures, and to invite those inside and outside of our community to be co-conspirators in realizing such futures. The Bows gratefully acknowledges funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development.

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ICAI and The Bows are situated on Treaty 7 Territory. We acknowledge the original stewards of this land: the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksika, Piikani and Kainai Nations, Tsuut’ina Nation, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley, and the Métis Nation, Region III. We make this acknowledgement alongside our commitment to honour our relationships with all community members, artists, contractors, staff and board members, including those who are Indigenous, displanted, newcomers, and settlers, as well as all the more-than-human beings that constitute our world. As such, we strive to enact our work with integrity and respect, to honour these values and commitments.

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