Tezcatl: Obsidian Meditations

Durational performance by Emilio Rojas
Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, BC
2025

Tezcatl: Obsidian Meditations is a day-long durational performance by Mexican multidisciplinary artist Emilio Rojas. Centered around the obsidian mirror, the work draws on Atztec conceptions of time to explore memory, embodiment and decolonial ways of knowing. Presented throughout the Vancouver Public Library, the performance invited visitors to encounter moments of quiet reflection as they moved through the building.

Following a workshop with the artist the day before, I joined Rojas and a group of local artists for a two-hour segment of the performance. Each performer contributed written performance prompts inspired by Yoko Ono's Grapefruit, to help guide the performative interactions, as well as books from the library shelves that related to reflection, memory, perception and time, reading passages aloud as spontaneous interventions within the space.