In Aztec cosmology, Xiuh is flame, and Xictli is the navel, the center where all things begin. In the kitchens of Mexico, the abuelas often refer to household utensils as xitle, their kitchens small altars of warmth. The belly remembers fire as creation, as nourishment, as hunger’s antidote. But Empire too knows fire—it burns homes, erases seeds, scorches memory. Empire incinerates lineages and starves the bellies of children. Xiuctli burns otherwise. Xiuctli is the ember that mothers breathe into clay, the umbilical fire that feeds even in forced famine, Xiuctli is a deity of regeneration. This sculpture was built from wheel-thrown and altered forms, and wood-fired on an August black moon.