to Taima or not to Taima
to Taima or not to Taima is an ongoing project by Maria Elena Pombo, structured as an interpretation of an archaeological site. It brings together water samples sent by Venezuelans living across the globe, collected over the course of eight years. These waters were used to extract pigment from avocado seeds, producing a range of pink tones that vary depending on each water’s composition. The pigments were then transformed into algae-based gels and yarns—materials chosen for their ephemerality and their tendency to change over time.
Through sculptural works, replicas, and archival gestures, the project attempts to hold a moment within the Venezuelan diaspora. It is a moment defined not by clarity but by fluctuation. As the algae shifts, fades, and alters in form, it mirrors the mutable, unsettled nature of the diasporic condition itself.
Tejiendo el Guayabo (Weaving the Guayabo) is a sculpture made from 60 of these water samples I have collected since 2018.
Avocado seeds, collected in a local deli, were boiled on each of these water samples. The different pink waters were then transformed into an algae-based gel and then into yarn. A process that pulls from molecular gastronomy recipes and has been appropriated by the bio-textile world. I re-appropriate these recipes as a way to manifest the territory now-inhabited by people with whom I shared a life in Venezuela.
The yarns were tied and suspended into 8 metal gridded panels, 1 for each year of this project.
Jerilyn’s Time Capsule is a box sent in 2018 from Madrid by my friend Jerilyn for this project.
It arrived in 2019 but I didn’t open it until 2025.
Aguas Nucleares (Nuclear Waters) is the remnant of bottles of Calgary, Copenhague, Hamburg, London, Madrid, NYC, Paris, and Port Harcourt. Cities in which my parents, my brother and myself have lived since our nuclear family left Venezuela.
26 Oxidaciones (Réplica) is a replica of a piece composed of 26 plastic vials filled with 26 of the avocado-seed waters of this project.
Shipping liquid was not possible, so a replica was created in Caracas.
Bibliografía del Taima is composed of publications that were used as reference for this project.
Verter de una and Verter por partes are both composed by a combination of the different avocado-seed-waters turned algae-gel.
In the case of the former, the gels were combined into a concrete piece. When it was first created, the variation in hue was noticeable, but these differences eventually faded.
In the case of the latter, the different gels were transformed into individual yarn-pieces that were later woven. Their individuality remains.
This video traces the history of the Taima-Taima archaeological site through Google Earth imagery taken between 2011 and 2023. Narrated by Alejandro and introduced by Felipe. Greco-Venezuelan sons of Pombo’s childhood friend Alfonso who now lives in Greece.
2025
00:06:30
Video, Public Domain Videos, Digital Phone
From Cabimas, a petroleum city where baseball is woven into daily life, Miguel, Pombo’s cousin and a player in a Little League, responds to the question: How would you explain baseball to someone from another planet? Through his personal interpretation, he reflects on the sport’s origins, the contradiction of the “World Series” being called “world” despite being a tournament between teams from just one country, and why “time” had to be invented. The video includes archival footage from the 1963–1964 winter season in Venezuela.
2025
00:06:30
Video, Public Domain Videos, Digital Phone
Pombo’s niece and nephew, Miranda (narration) and Sebastián (introduction), residents of Panama, explore questions about how to live in the face of mutability. The video weaves their narration together with the material process of the project: the transformation of water, avocado seeds, and algae into a gesture of pause, care, and record.
2025
00:06:30
Video, 8mm Digital Hi8
Photos below by Silvana Trevale