7 : "that's [not] all she wrote..." : maya trujillo : chicago, il

"Shit, I forgot about the giant pig skull I have drying out on the roof. I should probably go check on that. Wasn’t there something I was going to draw today? I really need to work on that trapeze choreography that’s due for tomorrow. I just don’t know how to transition from a Back Balance to a Skin the Cat. Maya, finish your yogurt."

I have dubbed Maya Trujillo the "priestess of the deceased" because her reverence and fascination with death and dying invites us mortals to consider the beauty of it and not just the fear, as so many of us modern children of the United States do. Her whole life, Maya has been doing a balancing act between different worlds - and not just literally between air and earth with her circus and aerialist background. Growing up having to juggle between two languages, different households and different cultures paired with being a wise old soul in a young body does that to you. Maya has made me see Chicago differently than anyone else I know by what she seeks out from it, but really what she seeks out from life - and death.

So take a moment to peer into this divine lady's notebook, and maybe pause yourself by a dead rat - or ten if you live in Chicago: