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Step into the world of Water Carries the Stories of Our Stars, a solo exhibition by Tacoma- and Yucatan-based artist and storyteller Priscilla Dobler Dzul. Join Priscilla and her collaborators, community organizer Daniela Mussali and master weaver Doña Brigida Lopez, for a conversation moderated by exhibition curator Tamar Benzikry. Together, they will share personal stories and cultural histories that reveal how ecosystems, ancestral knowledge, and craft are deeply interconnected.

A highlight of the program is the history and practice of backstrap weaving*mdash;an ancestral technique practiced for millennia across the Americas—featured in a central installation of the exhibition. Following the conversation, experience this living tradition firsthand through a weaving demonstration. Using resourceful natural materials and methods, the artists will animate the intergenerational bonds and community practices at the heart of Dobler Dzul’s work, offering a rare opportunity to witness artistry and cultural legacy in action.

About the Presenters

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Priscilla Dobler Dzul (b. 1985, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico) is an interdisciplinary artist and storyteller who reimagines Indigenous myths and revitalizes artisanal crafts. Working across textile, sculpture, painting, and video, she creates alternative narratives that challenge dominant perceptions of labor and power. Her practice bridges traditional and contemporary approaches, offering vivid, multilayered perspectives on identity, heritage, and transformation. Dobler Dzul has received numerous awards and her work has been exhibited internationally in venues across Mexico, Germany, and the United States.

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Daniela Mussali Meza (b. Mexico City, 1989) is a community organizer and cultural advocate with a degree in Development and Intercultural Management from UNAM, specializing in Biocultural Heritage. She co-founded Zutut’ha Center for Agroecology, Arts, and Crafts (2016), a hub for sustainable living in Sotuta, Yucatán; CULTIVA Alternativas de Regeneración (2020), which promotes agroecology, ecofeminism, and peace with women and youth in Maya communities; and the Center for Food Sovereignty Transformation (2021), advancing traditional Mayan solares and backyard farming. She also coordinates the Agroecology Network of the Yucatán Peninsula and co-founded Wayak Chuy, a collective of Maya women embroiderers, with artist Priscilla Dobler Dzul. 

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Doña Brigida Lopez (b. 1949) is a master weaver and ecological educator from San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, and belongs to the Kakchiquel Maya people. Exiled during the 1980 Maya genocide, she relocated to Honduras and later settled in Yucatán, Mexico, where she taught ecological farming and nutrition practices free of agrochemicals. A lifelong backstrap weaver, taught by her grandmother, she has passed on this ancestral knowledge to women’s groups, including artist Priscilla Dobler Dzul and collaborator Daniela Mussali Meza, sustaining cultural traditions across generations.