Thin Bloodline

Thin Bloodline is a reflection on cultural identity and borders. It explores themes of family memory, tradition, the passage of time, and detachment through the disruption of the family album. Using textiles and embroidery, typically a repository of memory, landscapes of my family portraits are shattered by imposed boundaries as the needle cleaves through them. The installation is motivated by the growing political and social divide that splits Mexican American U.S. citizens through the spread of extremist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. The work is accompanied by a bespoke artist book that uses thread to obscure the identities of its inhabitants, both for their protection and to illustrate unfamiliarity. The book is a critique on the performance of familial ties through birthdays, funerals, and cultural celebrations, especially within Mexican and Chicano contexts where family is expected to be important to and play a central role in a person’s everyday life, even if only superficial.