Tolerance for Ambiguity

Analise Minjarez, Tolerance for Ambiguity, 2020, Cochineal ink, tomatoes, color pencil, cotton paper, 34w x 60h in.

In “A Tolerance for Ambiguity,” I examine my border‑citizen perception by merging familial and regional symbols into a single, shifting language. Tomatoes symbolize my great‑grandmother Lela’s healing rituals, while cochineal ink represents the ecology of the borderlands. The tomato’s acidity creates a mark that disrupts and resists the cochineal ink a fixed reading. The unwoven drawings curls away from the wall, embodying a search for a more flexible and adaptive way to perceive the complexities of border life.

The title of the piece is borrowed from a concept by Mexican-American scholar and poet Gloria Anzaldúa.

“In perceiving conflicting information and points of view, she is subjected to a swamping of her psychological borders. She has discovered that she can't hold concepts or ideas in rigid boundaries. The borders and walls that are supposed to keep the undesirable ideas out are entrenched habits and patterns of behavior; these habits and patterns are the enemy within.”