WHITE PLAINS, NY (November 3, 2026) — New Rochelle artist Josué Morales Urbina has transformed a former bank vault at ArtsWestchester into an immersive art installation inspired by traditional Guatemalan healing practices, inviting visitors to remove their shoes, walk barefoot through water and experience an environment filled with the fragrance of a medicinal herb native to Central America.
The exhibition, Pericón: A Cure for All Ailments, opened October 17 at ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Ave., and runs through January 17, 2027. The installation incorporates hundreds of tea bags containing Pericón, along with water, scent and the physical participation of visitors, to explore cultural identity, migration, memory and the relationship between the human body and architecture.
Pericón, scientifically known as Tagetes lucida, is an aromatic flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America, including Guatemala. Also known as Mexican tarragon or Mexican marigold, the plant produces small yellow flowers and has a distinctive sweet fragrance resembling anise or licorice.
For centuries, Pericón has played a role in traditional Indigenous medicine and cultural practices throughout Mesoamerica. Its leaves and flowers are commonly prepared as an herbal tea to treat stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea and other digestive complaints. The plant has also been used as a natural dye, a mild relaxant and in spiritual ceremonies. Although its medicinal applications are well established in traditional practices, scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness as a treatment for human ailments remains limited.
Those cultural and medicinal associations are central to Morales Urbina’s installation. Hundreds of Pericón tea bags line the walls of the historic bank vault, creating a fragrant canopy that transforms a space once intended to safeguard money and valuables into an environment devoted to reflection, memory and healing.
Visitors are invited to remove their shoes and walk barefoot through water, experiencing the exhibition through touch, smell and movement rather than simply observing objects on display. Their participation becomes an essential element of the artwork, changing the relationship between the installation, its architectural surroundings and the people who enter it.
“What interests me most is how the viewer becomes as important to the installation as the materials themselves,” Morales Urbina said.
The choice of a former bank vault is also significant. By placing an herb associated with ancestral healing traditions inside a structure designed to protect financial wealth, Morales Urbina asks visitors to reconsider what society considers valuable and which forms of cultural knowledge deserve preservation.
The exhibition is part of the Janet Langsam Vault Project, an ArtsWestchester initiative that supports artists creating installations specifically designed for the organization’s historic vault. The project provides funding for artists to experiment with the space while addressing subjects of broader community interest.
“As vaults traditionally hold objects of high value, this space will be a permanent venue for artists to create, explore and contribute to meaningful conversations,” Langsam said in a statement published by ArtsWestchester. “The Vault Project is meant to elevate the intrinsic value of the arts beyond the marketplace.”
Born in Guatemala City, Morales Urbina is an installation and sculpture artist whose work frequently addresses cultural displacement, feelings of foreignness and the impermanence of memory. His artistic practice incorporates unconventional materials, including household objects and food, to create contemplative environments that encourage viewers to reconsider familiar experiences.
His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and has participated in artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, Banff, the Textile Arts Center and several other institutions.
Morales Urbina, who lives in New Rochelle, said he hopes the exhibition will introduce residents of his adopted community to an unusual artistic experience just a short distance away.
On Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m., Morales Urbina will host a special exhibition activation and tea party, followed by an artist talk. ArtsWestchester lists an artist question-and-answer session moderated by Julie Langsam from 3 to 5 p.m.
Pericón: A Cure for All Ailments is on display at the Janet Langsam Vault at ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, through January 17, 2027. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
For additional information, visit ArtsWestchester’s exhibition page.
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound (preferred) or contact via WhatsApp: +353 089 972 0669.
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