Mercedes Gertz was born in Mexico City and works from studio residencies in Mexico City, Los Angeles, CA, and Lausanne, Switzerland. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from Otis School of Art and Design in Los Angeles and a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Mercedes received a Young Artists Fellowship from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) in 1988. Since 2001, she has been engaged in community-based practice and has offered workshops on art as a language to Latinx families in Los Angeles, California. She has also conducted workshops in Mexico, Los Angeles, Tijuana, Paris, and Tokyo, focusing on the study of dreams and fairy tales as symbolic language that articulates aspects beyond verbal expression.

Her paintings, conceptual installations, and graphic works have been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Dream for a Dream 

An experimental space tending to the unknown, Berlin residency, 2023.

My intention is to create a space of investigation and exchange where the material from the unconscious is being treasured and acknowledged. In the space we well activate some exercises. One will be A Dream for a Dream it is the exchange of this symbolic language through oral tradition and drawings. The other will be symbology and tarot, what a card can tell you about your unconscious today, this exercise will be lead by Paulina Doniz*. In Berlin 2023, Paulina is one of the guests I intend to invite to activate these dialogues.  In the same manner specialists and curious participants can participate in order to enrich and exchange unconscious material. The opportunity to create a container for experimental exchange in Berlin an artistic meeting space through the collective psyche, which is shared in dreams and with the tarot, is as well a private ritual for me to reconnect with my ancestry since my great grandfather came from German origins.

"The symbology and the Tarot" Draw a card and discover what your unconscious wants to tell you today.

Disclaimer

Working with dreams is both exciting and frightening at times. It is important to treat the material with respect and sensitivity. This workshop is an invitation for you to begin a relationship with your dream images through the sharing of a dream, drawing and reflecting on the dream images. 

This work may be psychologically activating and is no way to be considered a substitute for therapy. If you feel activated or triggered in any way, please consult your physician or find a therapist near you.

Mercedes Gertz