D’Cajón (2024)

Cajón is an instrument that was founded in Peru by enslaved African people from West and Central Africa. The cajón was created by playing rhythms on empty wood crates and dresser drawers. The word “cajon” means “box” or “drawer” in Spanish.

I painted a cajón for Tradicion Peruana Cultural Center’s D’Cajón exhibition as part of their Peruvian independence day festivities in San Francisco! My cajón was inspired by the recounted stories behind traditional Afro Peruvian instruments and their connection to enslaved ancestors that have been share with me at Tradicion Peruana Cultural Center. The cajita being initially used to collect Sunday mass donations at church and later used to jam in the evenings. It all reminded me of this reading that stuck with me in college about Hawaiian resistance to imperialism and the way in which ancestors wove their stories of resistance within their traditional art to leave behind as messages hidden to others yet prominent to their descendants. So I thought it’d be fun to use the cajon to honor that beautiful intertwined relationship between art and resistance!

¡Que viva el Pueblo!