Other People's Children
I have been working on the Border Baby series since 2019. I am a daughter, wife, and Mother of three adult children. I live in my home state of New Mexico, which once was a part of Mexico and is still a dear neighbor with many families who live on both sides of the border.
My response to the previous administrations Childhood Separation Policy was outrage. I have approached the work intuitively. Sometimes the work is devastating, sometimes disturbing, other times hopeful. I spent weeks building a piece, carving the words, “Right 2 Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Whites Only!” After a week in the kiln, I pulled the piece out and saw that it was too mean.
Instead I shattered that piece and melted it into what became the platform base of “Crib of Thorns”. There is an illusion of a comforting quilt, which instead is a cold hard surface balanced on four sets of baby legs. It is surrounded by a cage of thorny branches that make up the bars of the baby crib. Baby hands reach out to the viewer surrounded by tick marks reminding us of the many lives impacted by these inhumane policies. The Crib of Thorns entraps these children who will become the martyrs that return as Social Justice Warriors.
Recently, I have been blessed to participate in “10 Days to Revolutionary Love” which has helped me to see the steps that I was missing, such as grief and compassion through listening for the opponents. I hope the deep work I am doing will be evident in this series.