7 Steps Forward 7 Steps Back
A traveling exhibition of works by artist V. Kim Martinez. The Salt Lake City artist explores traditional themes of death in Mexican and Indigenous cultures in not so traditional ways.
When a person dies, some indigenous peoples of North America practice a ritual called “7 Steps Forward 7 Steps Back.” For seven days, four times a day, survivors pay homage to the deceased by visiting and marking their burial site with seven lines. They then walk forward seven steps to the site and, when leaving, walk backward seven steps. This practice assures that the dead will have safe entry into the afterlife.
V. Kim Martinez’s multi-disciplinary installation is based on her experiences traveling routes used by Mexican/Native American migrants for thousands of years along the now United States and Mexican border. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings, and an animated five-minute video in response to what she witnessed while traversing the southwestern border.