Xiuhcoatl - Fuego es Vida (2026)

Institutional pricing(libraries, universities, for use on tv/movies etc) . Contact us for invoicing or a custom listing: $320

Jesus Barraza
18" x 24"
7-Color Handmade Screen Print, Cougar 270gsm/100lb Paper, Printed in my kitchen, San Leandro, CA (December) 2023
Numbered edition of 60 with Dignidad Rebelde's studio symbol as a dry embossed seal in left hand corner

Xiuhcoatl invokes the Mexica fire serpent, a being associated with fire, solar heat, and transformative power. Fire has always held a double meaning. It has sustained human life by providing warmth, cooked food, light, and the means to transform the material world. Solar heat, too, offers the possibility of another future: energy drawn from the sun rather than from the fossil fuels that have destabilized the climate.

At the same time, fire has become one of the most immediate signs of environmental crisis in Northern California. Since 2018, recurring wildfire seasons have filled the air with smoke and ash, making breathing hazardous for humans, birds, animals, and other forms of life. These fires burn not only trees and grasslands, but also homes, plastics, rubber, metals, and the accumulated toxic materials of modern life.

In this work, Xiuhcoatl becomes a figure for this contradiction. The fire serpent holds the possibility of warmth, energy, and renewal, but also the destructive force of a world pushed out of balance. The work reflects on how fossil-fuel extraction and colonial relationships to land have intensified climate catastrophe, while asking us to imagine forms of energy and care that might support a more livable future.