Mixed-media hanging sculpture
36 in x 60 in (approximately)
2020

This piece is a hanging sculpture composed of wire, embroidery thread, artificial flowers, a teddy bear, Café Bustelo packaging and found jewelry. Using hoop earrings and other jewelry that once belonged to my mother and I, I created dreamcatchers utilizing embroidery thread from my grandmother’s collection. 

The title of this work comes by purposefully juxtaposing a lyric of the American song, “Stars and Stripes Forever” with a line from the poem, “Ode to the Diasporican” written by Bronx, Puerto Rican poet Mariposa. With this piece, I wish to depict the sense of connection the Puerto Rican diaspora that was born and raised in the United States feels with the island. The hanging, ornate dreamcatchers are a reference to the dreams we have of connecting back to a culture we only have a sense of. Specifically using the colors of red, white and blue, a reference to both the American and Puerto Rican flags, I wish to blur and merge their identities making the reference to one flag or another indistinguishable. By utilizing “feminine” materials, which belonged to either myself or my female family members, I play with the idea of generations and the “mother” land.