Mama Nela’s Pepper Remedy

37" x 38" Watercolor and acrylic on paper
2015

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Mama Nela’s potion for the curse of the evil eye consists of peppercorns, alfalfa, and ruda flowers tucked into her mouth to be gently spit out on her afflicted grandchild, lying wrapped in a traditional Salvadoran blanket in the cool Central American summer, absorbing the unusual remedy with curiosity, a medicinal exorcism from her neighbor’s unwanted act of touching her hair while remarking on its beauty, thereby activating the curse.