Ivana Zamora 

My sustained investigation is to explore my personal experience growing up as the only daughter of two immigrants to America. I asked myself how I was protected compared to my peers and how did growing up away from my parent’s home countries affect me?

In images 1&2, I used yarn-wrapped wire to express the flow of languages in my head due to the Spanish my parents speak and the English that the rest of my world speaks. In image 3, I carefully put together the piece from images 4&5. The piece shows how my parents’ goal was to help their daughter fulfill the American dream. The blues around the center face signify the importance that is placed on me. The outspaced wires are the ripples that affect us. Image 6 is a replica of one of my favorite childhood memories: a Volkswagen buggy that we owned for so long that I cried when we sold it. In image 7, the wires that wrap into hands represent the lines of writing that formed me into an English-speaking American. Images 8, 9, and 10 show my struggle through experimentation and revision of my concept of how a queen in chess is the most powerful and guarded. The overspilling spheres in 10 depict the expectations I surpassed.