Winding the Strata was an installation created in El Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa park, San Diego California. This piece was a response to a then re-burgeoning “guest worker” proposal to accommodate  California’s  agricultural need for inexpensive farm labor. It integrated elements of my father’s stories of living under huge carpas or tents during the picking season. The tent is made of latex, resembling human skin, browned by the days sun, with the tools of domestic and farm labor echoed in its surface. The piece was “spiced” with the spices of the new world, while the fruits and vegetables of the the region were echoed in ink on the floor. It is  a testament both to my family and the many other hard working immigrant families trying to make home in a “new world”.

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