INVISIBLE WALLS: The wall on the Mexican border is meant to enforce division, to block the migration of human beings seeking available work to feed their families. Ignorance of other cultures creates another type of wall; invisible yet often more impenetrable. We become strangers yet sometimes unknowingly share traditions. Such is the case with music from my place of birth, Chiapas in the south of Mexico. The song Las Chiapanecas is frequently heard in such wide ranging events as baseball games, orchestras at grand concerts and cartoons. The dress and music of Las Chiapanecas is typical of my indigenous home. When I hear the music, I hear the ruffle of the dress and my heart is filled with joy.
Through my work, I invite the viewer into my world with its history, traditions and secrets seeded by memory and sentiment. And I sometimes find we are more bicultural than we realize.
Mara Odette