"Your check"
Ernesto Walker
Handmade embroidered traditional belts conditioned by numerical sequences of tavern bills
15 belts, 14 glasses, 14 tavern bills, and 3 buckles
Installation on table: 160 x 270 cm
2013

The realization of rituals involves a combination of a series of protocols strengthened upon their repetition and adoption as habits by a given community. Regarding this, their recurrence becomes itself a test for their philosophical bases, at the same time that generates new information that's incorporated to the system and gives feedback to it, contributing to the historical continuity of the ritual. "Your check" is a project that talks about this topic in the context of traditional taverns in North East Mexico.

The process of the artwork starts collecting the bills of "Pilo's Bar", a tavern in Monterrey whose traditional cowboy profile and prestige is magnified by it's close relation with this genre musical community and by the amount of years the tavern has been operating. The information of the bills is interesting as a way to approximate to the narrative of each table through the rhythm and amount of alcohol and music consumption. Taking each bill individually, the sequences of numbers are translated to geometrical patterns such as those characteristically used in the designs of Mexican traditional embroidered belts. These belts are an iconic piece of garment in the context of Northern Mexican music genre and have a connotation of elegance that comes from it's high price, the meticulous handcrafted fabrication, and their showy appearance.

Project developed in collaboration with interns of the Topo Chico Jail.