The Artwork

What lives in the mantle

Where the original image of Guadalupe places stars, this Virgen places the things migrants carry across borders. A few among many:

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  Sewing machine

  For every mother who stitched a new life one seam at a time.

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  Lottery cards

  Loteria — childhood, chance, the gamble of leaving.

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  Koi fish

  Ascent against the current.

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  Monarch butterflies

  The only border crossing nature itself sanctions.

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  La Bestia (the train)

  The freight train migrants ride north.

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  Ellis Island and Lady Liberty

  Every previous wave of arrival.

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  One-way road signs

  There is no road back, only forward.

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  Origami swans

  Folded prayers, taught by other hands.

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  Hummingbirds, orchids, dandelions

  Small living things that travel light.

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  Padre Nuestro / Ave Maria

  In English, Spanish, Latin, Nahuatl — every tongue of the journey.

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  Silhouette of Pope Francis

  The first head of state to defend their dignity.

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  Thinkers, Inc. ring of Solomon

  The hand that commissioned her.