(A Falta) De Pan, Tortillas
An Analysis of Decolonization and Immigration, 2020
“A falta de pan, tortillas” is a Mexican refran meaning: adapt to a situation despite wishing for an alternative. For immigrants, this summarizes the mindset required to start a new life in a foreign environment. This body of work is a visual rendition of my family’s journey as immigrants by way of retrieving, appropriating, distorting and repurposing archived identification documents and family photographs.
Exploring the relationship between identification and identity - within their new context, there are no complicated administrative procedures required for the existence or validation of these images. The absence, manipulation and erasure of information within this work echoes aspects of life that are (in)voluntarily left behind through the processes of immigration.
Link to Video made for Xpace Cultural Centre
Link to Essay written by Sebastián Rodríguez y Vasti