Informed by the politics of the border, the events that happen on it and the transnational narratives that arise after crossing it, I tackle issues of race, identity, gender, and Latin stereotypes using the visual tropes of celebration. My project Borderland Series (2014-16) employs confection, industrial materials, and the American board game Candy Land as a conceptual framework to juxtapose the borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico. The spaces in the “Candy Lands” of my work relate to immigrant’s Utopian visions of the American Dream. Candy Land signifies an America filled with the possibility of happiness in contrast to Mexico. The monuments and towers, built from accumulated candy, frosting, and found objects exemplify the excess associated with the American Dream. They stand as living shrines to real life individuals, such as individuals who died at the border, family members who have crossed the border, in conjunction with Mexican American icons like Selena Quintanilla to further complicate the transnational narratives of Mexican Americans in relation to the border. My video, “Really Safe in my Room in America,” 2016, layers personal photographs with found images of the border. It complicates my acquired safety of living in America in relation to the violence on the border. The smell, candy, decoration, and personal photographs in my installations and videos serve as an ironic strategy that critique the glut of violence at the border.
