El sueño de la sombra

El sueño de la sombra (The shadow's dream) was created as a need to visually express and comment on the danger of President Donald Trump's proposed wall. It is a sculpture consisting of 64 miniature steel ladders either leaning against or surrounding an 8-inch-tall by 24-foot-long steel wall embedded in soil. Its intention is to demonstrate the duality of the wall and ladders, the hopelessness felt in the imposition of the wall but also the hopefulness in the ladders defeating the obstacle. The ladders represent the border community and the refugees who are fleeing very harsh and violent conditions in search of a safer place and a better future. The ladders are also stand-ins for the families who have been separated due to deportation. Beyond immigrants and refugees, however, the ladders symbolize growth, rising up, ascending, and shifting to a different place physically, mentally, and spiritually (figure 1).

The ladders, which vary from 2 to 12 inches, were created to characterize expressions and emotions; they are deliberately made imperfect because no human being is perfect. Some of them are broken and incomplete or their legs are not leveled. The ladders are delicate and fragile as a symbolic gesture to represent the people who are sacrificing so much of their lives to overcome the obstacles implied by the wall (figure 2).

During their fabrication, the ladders go through a process of hammering and pounding, which represents some of the challenges migrants and refugees encounter and endure in their journey to the United States. The material I use is also symbolic: the ladders are made out of stainless steel shot. Shot is an abrasive media used in a tumbler whose function is to polish "more valuable" metal like silver or gold in order to bring out a bright, shiny, and impeccable surface. Recently, in conversation about my piece, a family member made me see this as a class distinction between the metal doing the polishing and the metal being polished and a metaphor for the immigrant working class "polishing" society and making this world a better place (figure 3).

Figure 1.

"El Sueño de la sombra" installed at the US-Mexico border in Juárez, Mexico with border fence in the background, 2017. Courtesy: Alejandra Carrillo-Estrada.

Figure 2.

Detail of ladders, 2017. Courtesy: Alejandra Carrillo-Estrada.

Figure 3.

The hammer and steel plate used in the process of manipulation, 2017. Courtesy: Alejandra Carrillo-Estrada.

I use a heavy steel hammer to flatten the shot pieces one by one and then a micro welder to fuse them together to form a line for each side of the ladder. Finally, the shot is added in between to complete the ladder (figures 4, 5).

Working on these ladders is a meditative practice as the pounding is a repetitive motion, which creates a sustained rhythm. Many times, while working I am also listening to stories on the National Public Radio about refugees and immigrants. These stories from podcasts like Latino USA inspire my work by reminding me I am not alone in my feelings or fears and the more united our community is, the stronger our voices will become. This provides my fuel to continue working.

When hammering out and making these ladders I also think about the physical labor of farmers and domestic workers, who are mostly immigrants, and what they go through 12 or more hours a day. As such, the physical sacrifice that I make in creating my artwork is my contribution, my personal offering to the laborers who have to endure worse working conditions. Feeling that physical pain is a reminder that what I am doing is nothing in comparison, and this, in turn, feeds my need to continue my creations.

Another meaningful layer of El sueño de la sombra rests in the number of ladders and the measurement of the wall. My personal migration story is reflected in these digits. One of the...