Sayula (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches. All images courtesy of Anna Ortiz, shared with permissionIn Mythic Paintings, Anna Ortiz Conjures the Uncanny of the BorderlandsApril 3, 2025ArtGrace EbertFor Anna Ortiz, the borderlands are a rich source for the uncanny. The Mexican-American artist (previously) was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, but visited her family in Guadalajara often. There, she was immersed in her ancestral landscape and introduced to her familys history as artistsher grandfather painted portraits, while her aunt was a professional sculptor.These formative experiences offered a contrast to her life in the Northeast and the dichotomous relationship between the two continues to influence her thinking and practice today.Al Otro Lado de Texcoco (2025), oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inchesFor her upcoming solo exhibition at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Ortiz conjures a surreal borderland that suspends time. Awash in saturated color palettes of pink, blue, and green, the paintings in Prophecy Here and Gone reference Aztec histories and how their influence continues to shape the landscape.In the diptych Al Otro Lado de Texcoco, for example, a gleaming lake peeks through dense clusters of cacti. Nested at the base of the volcano La Malinche, the body of water greeted the Aztecs when they moved to whats now known as Mexico City. When the Spanish arrived, they drained the lake in a failed attempt to farm the land.Ortiz tells Colossal that she frequently paints pairs as a way to consider unfulfilled destinies and paths not chosen. Twin agaves appear in Pareja, while Tula depicts a couple of totemic sculptures that appear to be standing guard. Flat butterflies grace their chests, a reference to the statues found at the capital of the Aztecs ancestors, the Toltecs. The artist similarly incorporates doubling through reflections, as a majestic jaguar is mirrored in the aquatic foregrounds of several paintings.World-building and offering an entry point into ancient prophecies is key to this body of work. Interested in the ways civilization and the landscape interact and shape one another, Ortiz shares that loss is a central themeI was once very close to my Mexican heritage, and I lost it. I grew up fluent in Spanish but because of family strife, I lost that fluency. Tula (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inchesOrtizs paintings both honor the ancient peoples and cultures that once occupied the land and present an alternative universe in which their myths and prophecies had different outcomes. Vibrant and uncanny, the works portray the lives we were unable to live but (that) happened without us, she adds.Prophecy Here and Gone is on view from April 5 to May 10 in Miami. Find more from Ortiz on her website and Instagram.Agaves Bailando (2024), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesReflejada (2025), oil on canvas, 40 x 48 inchesSacrificio (2023), oil on canvas, 48 x 40 inchesPareja (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inchesGemelos Amaranto (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesEn Orbita (2025), oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inchesCihuacoatl (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inchesNahual (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesNext article