for his dallas contemporary exhibition, this must be the place, artist eduardo sarabia (born 1976, los angeles, ca; lives and works, guadalajara, mexico) evokes the history of the traditional mexican hacienda to explore notions of home, cultural heritage, and interior and exterior spaces – both shared and private, literal and psychological. haciendas were an enclave of colonial agricultural and domestic buildings that originated in the 16th century to accommodate the industry of landowners and their workers and persisted until the late 1800s, shaping and fueling the economy of mexico as well as its cultural and socio-anthropological history.

this must be the place references the architecture of a hacienda while culling from popular art and culture, craft methodologies, and mexican tradition. the main corridor presents a group of recent oil paintings by sarabia of landscapes and gardens, recalling the history of painting and using the painting frame as a window into various views or perceptions of reality. the corridor and the rest of the hacienda are conceived around a central patio, also inhabited by nature motifs — mystical evocations of mexico’s native flora and fauna – that are part of sarabia’s visual language: sacred ceiba trees, which were believed in pre-columbian mesoamerican cultures to connect heavens and earth to worlds below; birds in danger of extinction, such as the quetzal; fungi; and green vines.

ideas of celebration around the culinary rite are highlighted in the kitchen space of the exhibition. here, sarabia has set plates, cups, and vessels – rarely exhibited objects that are often given by the artist to friends or privately used in his own home. in the context of the exhibition space, however, the arrangement of these items suggests that a meal is about to be shared, opening up the private spaces of a home to the public. extending these ideas of collective festivity, in the back of the gallery is the cava – the cellar – where wine and other libations are stored and then shared with guests, amplifying a celebration’s merriment, and referencing the tequila haciendas in sarabia’s chosen home of jalisco, mexico.

two places of reflection and intimacy are also offered in the exhibition: the artist’s studio, where a variety of works from sarabia’s practice are presented, describing the layers of his research and interest, and the chapel, where two stained glass windows depict the day and night – the sun and the moon – and underscore the artist’s interest in mystical, spiritual methodologies of interpreting the future, as well as his belief in the interconnectedness of all living things.

by deploying the model of the hacienda as the arena in which to explore his own life’s work as an artist, this must be the place draws connections between the history of mexico and sarabia’s own personal story, marking mexico as not only the land of his cultural heritage, but as his chosen home.