Fund Artist Book on Coca, Women, and Justice

I’m Tatiana Arocha, a Colombian interdisciplinary artist based in New York. I’m raising funds to print 500 bilingual copies of Descocainizar la Coca, an artist book about the environmental, cultural, and social implications of the criminalization of the coca plant.

This book will be published in conjunction with my solo exhibition opening in October 2025 at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor. It is the result of three years of research and collaboration with Colombian anthropologist and activist Marcela Vallejo. It brings together the voices of women from across Latin America to reclaim the coca leaf’s ancestral, ecological, and spiritual meaning, which has often been reduced to its association with cocaine.

Why This Book Matters

Coca is not cocaine.

This book challenges Western, extractive narratives by presenting the coca leaf as what it has always been: a sacred plant with deep-rooted ties to the land, the body, and community life in the Andes and Amazon.

By placing women’s voices at the center of a conversation historically dominated by state and male-controlled power structures, Descocainizar la Coca serves as both a cultural document and a counter-narrative. It accompanies and deepens the conversation within my exhibition, which features site-specific installations, video, and community workshops.

✨ Your Support Will Help Us:

✅ Print 500 bilingual copies of Descocainizar la Coca

✅ Provide honoraria for contributors to participate in public conversations

✅ Hire bilingual interpreters to ensure panels are accessible and far-reaching

✅ Amplify a more just, culturally rooted narrative around coca

✅ Preserve and share ancestral knowledge from Indigenous and migrant women

This book is for our communities, our futures, and our collective healing.

What You’ll Receive

We’ve created special thank-you gifts for your generosity:

Each contribution brings us closer to reimagining our relationship with this plant and the communities who protect it.

About the Book

"Descocainizar la Coca is a publication that combines the visual work of artist Tatiana Arocha with written reflections by Marcela Vallejo, Dora Troyano, Fabiola Piñacue Achicue, Ana Gretel Echazú Böschemeier, Maria Eugenia Flores, Rebeca Lerer, and Cristina Lleras that explore the history, uses, and cultural significance of the coca leaf.

The book challenges Western narratives that reduce coca to cocaine, highlighting its ancestral value as a sacred plant for Indigenous and peasant communities of the Andes and the Amazon. Through texts, images, and transcriptions of conversations, it addresses topics such as epistemic violence and colonialism in the translation of traditional practices like coqueo, the criminalization of the plant and its devastating effects, and the need to recognize the rights of coca and the communities that cultivate it. The work invites a critical reflection on the relationship between humans and nature, the importance of cultural diversity, and the necessity of building a more just and sustainable future.” — Marcela Vallejo

Thank you for being part of this journey. Your contribution, large or small, helps bring this vital book into the world and ensures that the stories and voices it contains can circulate widely, with care and dignity.

Tatiana Arocha

www.tatianaarocha.com

Instagram: @tatianaarocha