Wood table painted with acrylic, pulp sprayed
with abaca, embedded with pulp painted paper,
coated with linseed oil, dyed with indigo
and turmeric
96”x 30”x 31”
2018

My recent work is informed by a collaborative project called Soñé una Milpa that celebrates the important, though often hidden experience of ten Latina immigrant women. Memories of their lived experiences reminded me of when I immigrated to the United States from Honduras. Like these women, I dream of going back to my home country, imagining that things would be as I remember, but knowing that passage of time changes everything. The artwork, Comunión refers to the elusive memories of a remembered place and a life lived between cultures. 

While interviewing the Latina women in their homes, over a home cooked meal, we had conversations layered with experiences both joyful and challenging. Listening to the women’s stories of immigration reminded of the weathering process that happened to my home in Honduras after my family immigrated to the United States. Peeling paint, cracking, chipping, oxidizing and other wear and tear processes created stratified textures on the interior and exterior of the house. The walls on my home were decaying because the only person who could take care of them, my ninety-two-year-old grandma, was also deteriorating. Home is Tita Melida, my grandma, and when she’s gone, my connection to that place will also vanish. Now, when I see layered surfaces, whatever environment I am in, I am filled with nostalgia and memories of a remembered place. 

Using handmade paper processes, I manipulated the wet pulp, working freely, creating marks and passages that evolved organically, building an image with layered, ripped, dyed, and collaged forms, recreating textured surfaces similar to the ones found in my childhood home.  As I poured layers of overbeaten abaca pulp on the dining room table, long enough to fit ten people, I thought about Latina immigrants and their altered identities, living in a white culture, intersectionality, celebration of brokenness, loss, passage of time, and communion.