Abuela is Spanish for grandmother. I imagine her in her barrio (neighborhood) garden in my hometown, Tucson, surrounded by an ocotillo (a living, cactus-type) fence. She has her handwork and the blessed Virgin of Guadalupe nearby, with a grandchild at her knee.
Abuela scans the headlines about the US government’s harsh and inhumane immigration policy–getting worse and worse all the time, and she weeps.
Materials: vintage handworked textiles (makers unknown), felted wool, 480 jewelry spikes, cotton and cotton-silk fabric, dyeing, discharging, silk sari ‘yarn,’ window screen, acrylic felt, milagros and crystal rosary, synthetic organza.
