
Arleene Correa Valencia
I Do Not Give You Permission To Enter My Home Based On My 4th Amendment Rights Under The United States Constitution, 2025
Acrylic, textiles, thread, and beads on Amate made by Jose Daniel Santos De La Puerta
Sheet: 29 3/8 x 86 inches Frame: 33 7/16 x 90 1/16 inches
“People often ask me how having access to my home country has changed my practice. At first, I had trouble answering this question, because it feels like people are digging...
“People often ask me how having access to my home country has changed my practice. At first, I had trouble answering this question, because it feels like people are digging for a feel-good life changing story, when the reality is that being able to finally go home comes with a lot of guilt, loss, pain, and suffering because my family can’t come with me. But in a physical sense the work has changed because I’ve started this obsession with Amate paper. Made from the tree bark of the Jonote tree this paper carries the roots and earth of our homelands. After seeing one of the oldest Codex written by our ancestors in the Museo de Antropología, I knew that it was the right foundation to tell my family’s story of survival. These scrolls are scrolls of resistance, proof of our existence and show us the strength of our roots. We will survive, in the fire, wind, and water. The earth will hold us and our children as we continue to seek safety and a place to call home.”