De-Blading the Knife (Cristina Rivera Garza)

Inspired by a walrus-ivory Story Knife from the Arctic region, Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza creates a multi-faceted narration that asks: what is remembered? How? For whom? The ephemeral strokes of a Story Knife were traditionally drawn by young Yup´ik girls into soil or snow to repeat old tales that would then fade away. Rivera Garza connects this empowering ancient Indigenous practice to the violentometro, a contemporary tool designed in Mexico to measure instances of intimate partner violence. The story of violence against women constantly disappears even as it is continuously told, re-told. Might a Story Knife play a role in reversing such erasure?