Onion epidermis

The mourning of matter. Living textiles by materials from the traditional mortuary rite.

Lulú Osnaya (Lourdes González Osnaya) has been working with onion epidermis for the past seven years. Her personal relationship with the onion began at family funerals, where she vividly remembers the dish with chopped onion in vinegar placed under the coffin. She recalls its scent—its silent and forceful presence in space. In some parts of Mexico, the onion is traditionally used to protect the soul of the deceased from the influence of evil spirits and from the corruption of the dead body. It is a humble yet powerful element, a staple on tables worldwide. Its presence speaks to our senses in its language; through the memory of its smell, it can connect us to the warmth of home or even to our own fragility.

Being protection and repelling the main functions of the onion, she seeks mournful qualities in it by intensifying the expression of peeling its most intimate layer and revealing it, trying to reconstruct its original body, covering and protecting itself. She works with its characteristic smell, its fragility, and its translucency.

Globally, onions are essential in human life, are constant in various rituals, and are used in traditional medicine. Many beliefs surround their power: hanging an onion in a room to absorb illnesses and bad energies, having anti-snake properties, and warding off the evil eye. Onions are also a symbol of rebirth. While many of these properties lack scientific proof, their uses, passed down through generations, have logical bases and stem from experience.

By exploring the symbolic meaning of the onion and its ability to evoke emotions and sensations, Lourdes delves into the fluidity between the vegetable and human worlds. She investigates the emotional connection humans have to materials, particularly in death rites, and how these materials are imbued with power to share and act on mourning, bridging the sacred and the useful.

Understanding tradition as the result of collective and pluricultural thinking that is in continuous transformation, Lourdes investigates ordinary but cardinal materials in human life and how they respond to human and environmental interaction through their transformable and independent form of communication. She seeks to uncover new aspects that stem from their intrinsic and ritual character and their potential to communicate to our senses and reach archaic memories.

With the onion, Lourdes has developed a textile-making technique where she peels the tunic (epidermis) that covers each layer of the bulb. She then creates an interlacement with these membranes, using her nails to suture them. Glycerine, used for long-term preservation of bodies, allows her to keep the onion skins unfading and flexible—neither wilting nor rotting—positioning them somewhere between life and death, prolonging their duration and halting their degradation. The canvases sweat and transform into shrouds that shrink and form patterns on the surface, responding to the particularities of their environment and vegetal species, as well as to the people, fungi, and insects that have been in contact with them. Lourdes explains that these patterns form as oxidative processes begin, producing the amber, brown, and yellow hues that signal the onset of cellular death. The yellowing marks the start of oxidative decay, the machinery that triggers cell death. This transformation reflects the delicate balance between life and death, as the onion skins respond to their environment, revealing their transient nature through these evolving colours and patterns.

So far, Lourdes has peeled more than two tons of onions of different species and origins. Through the painstaking repetitive action of peeling and putting them together, she intends to lift them up to the same importance as they had in a ceremonial context.

By treating other species with the same ceremonial care and rethinking the emotional connection to them, what can be uncovered about their properties? What mysteries, evident yet unnoticed, can aliments reveal through their unique communication? By closely examining the modest details of living matter often overlooked, new values and characteristics might be discovered. This perspective could lead to new applications or forms of consumption.

Making process

The process of making onion epidermis textiles begins with carefully selecting onions and ensuring that they are not damaged or have visible fungi. Different species are used depending on their physical characteristics.

The epidermis is then meticulously peeled away. This layer is so fragile that it can barely exist on its own. The thin layers are carefully joined in an interlacement using the fingernails, while simultaneously adding glycerin to keep them hydrated. This process is time-consuming, as the membranes must be handled with great care to avoid tearing or damage. Approximately 100 kg of onion is needed to make 1 square meter of textile.

The glycerine helps preserve the skins by preventing wilting or rotting, thereby prolonging their life and maintaining their suppleness. Onions also have antimicrobial properties, which allow the canvases to remain uncontaminated for a period even without additional treatment, as the natural compounds in the tissue inhibit the growth of certain microorganisms. However, this protection is not indefinite. To maintain the balance and keep the materials in optimal condition, the skins are periodically misted with vinegar and additional glycerine is applied as needed. This practice helps sustain the equilibrium between life and death, extending the material’s duration while halting its natural degradation and protecting it from mould.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.