Mexicali Rose

Artist Statement

I feel a strong spiritual connection to orchid flowers- they were my mom’s favorite flower and looking at them reminds me of all the love and care she had for every living being. I have a family member who’s in the process of joining the spirits and wanted to paint something to honor his life; it felt like fate when he told me his favorite flower was an orchid.

My family was displaced by the civil war in El Salvador- the leftover grief and yearning are common stories in the various displaced communities that have grown here. When I see any tropical plant in the bay I feel a sense of kinship, that just like me, these plants are the descendants of displaced ancestors that learned to grow and thrive in new conditions.

The orchids are painted on a background of oak leaves drawn to imitate borders, replacing the rigid lines with a culturally significant food of the Huichin Ohlone people whose home supported life here before the violence of borders (and still does!). The acorn and flower buds represent a hope for our displaced communities to restore relationships and to do right by the land and people that we found shelter in.