This was an examination into the offspring generations of immigrants (to America) that dealt with an onslaught of cultural prejudice by assimilating into the standard American value system. A visual exercise in the expression of the loss of ancestral values, languages and traditions.
This project was one of my first sculptures, and deals with psychological discordance between members of an American family that has been stripped of cultures of origin. My own experience of being both Mexican and Polish descent facilitates this personal project. My grandparents on both sides spoke in their native languages very fluently, often to my dismay because I could never understand what they were saying, except when they chose to speak in English, which they were also fluent in. Somewhere between theirs and my generation, the language and culture was set completely aside, and I blame not the baby boomer generation but the messages that they were bombarded with in media and in school. (If you want to succeed in the US, speak ENGLISH.)
I have no qualms with English, but I do take issue with the loss of language from those cultures - particularly Spanish - since so much of our population now is migrating from Mexico and we limit ourselves greatly by not learning to speak such a crucial language in such a crucial time.
I have no qualms with English, but I do take issue with the loss of language from those cultures - particularly Spanish - since so much of our population now is migrating from Mexico and we limit ourselves greatly by not learning to speak such a crucial language in such a crucial time.
