2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
Looking for a chapter event?
Past SPE Annual Conferences
exhibitions
South Central Chapter Conference Schedule
print this pageWhat It's Like to Be a Uterus: Reflections on 'Terramancy
J. Molina-Garcia
Friday, October 20 - 3:00PM to 4:00PM
Corn Center, Room 150
"What It's Like to Be a Uterus: Reflections on 'Terramancy'" offers critical reflections on an ongoing series of chemical and digital transformation of the South Texas landscape, highlighting the crisis of immigrant detention centers as it has transpired on the figurative landscapes of women and children from Central America. Captured using drones and novelty 360-degree cameras, the project in question, "Border Terror," is made up of a series of silver gelatin experiments using the Chromoskedasic Sabbatier process. Developed in the 1990s, this process chaotically lifts silver halide crystals, imbuing images with a mesmerizing range of metallic grays, reds, and browns (also known as, silverization).
Figures and human bodies in the photographs appear as hollow, virtual subjects, digitally removed or, in instances where drone footage provides the basis for photogrammetric renderings, they appear as 3D puppets and dummies taken out of crowd simulation software. Their ghostly and, at times, animal-like, insect-like appearance makes visible both the unfathomable death at the border and the opacity of data surrounding the accurate number of children lost and removed from caregivers. In those cases where the photographs combine anatomical illustrations of squid and uterine biology, the project aims to reveal the monstrosity of coercive gynecological procedures endured by Brown women at the Southern border and across many other historical periods.
The project is inspired by the resurgence of divine or goddess feminism in contemporary culture, as well as recent scholarship in transgender Marxism and transgender studies. In this respect, the lecture will seek to clarify the concept of "terramancy," a neologism combining the Greek prefix "terra-", signifying a connection to the earth, and the suffix "-mancy" from the ancient Greek word "manteia," which means divination or prophecy.
Coined by the artist in a recently authored graduate seminar titled "Emancipatory Science-Fiction," "terramancy" refers to methods of divination that involve seeking signs, omens, or messages from the earth. It implies using the earth or its topographical features (its "flesh") as a medium for gaining insightful, prophetic knowledge; in other words, this body-of-work highlights the mystical power of the mother or the enchantment of the "Mother Vessel."
speaker
J. Molina-Garcia
About
- Board Reports, Letters, and Minutes
- History
- Staff
- Board Members
- Board Committees
- Board Elections
- SPE Code of Conduct
- Caucuses
Join
Members
Annual Conference
- About the Conference
- Overview
- Speakers
- Schedule
- Registration
- Volunteer
- Sponsors
- Exhibit
- Anti-Harassment Policy
- Hotel & Travel
- Location + Travel
- Hotel
- Schedule of Events
- Schedule
News & Events
Chapters
Exposure Journal
About this piece
Comments about this piece
Dialogue and critique are important to the SPE mission.
Please join the conversation.