“Celda’s kitchen is a melting pot of ingredients, time, political activism, people, and their stories. Central to her kitchen, and to her graduation installation Zona Zero (2022), are the mortar and pestle. Celda describes the mortar and pestle as a vessel and a weapon. “I’m not cooking,” she says, “I’m smashing!” It is a tool for making food through force, a weapon for the “ground zero of revolution.” It is also a musical instrument, with its rhythmic “pum pum pum pum” that accompanies the chatter of the table guests. This mortar and pestle were made by the artist herself, slowly carved out of a huge chunk of scavenged wood. Some marks still show where the bugs had their feast; for them, eating equals the creation of pathways—a network of trails trodden and digested.” Excerpt from an essay on Anna Celda by Dagmar Bosma