Beatriz Vasquez was a child when her family first moved to Indianapolis from Brownsville, Texas.
She remembers visiting the giant polar bear at the Children’s Museum and the Circle of Lights at Monument Circle. She and her siblings also experienced their first snow day when a blizzard closed their schools.
Vasquez, an artist, also remembers her family struggling to find a sense of community. They missed spending Christmas with her mom’s family in Matamoros, Mexico, where the streets were strung with colorful papel picado.
So, it’s no wonder that’s the way Vasquez chose to bring her memories to life. Papel picado is a traditional Mexican art form of intricately cut paper. She animates the designs using a projector in a storytelling style she calls papel picado cuentos.
“Papel picado cuentos is my latest endeavor in my creative practice,” she said. “It is based on storytelling, childhood stories, cultural memory and stories of migration.”
“Navidad en Indy” focuses on her family’s struggles the first time they moved to Indianapolis: cultural shock, migration and also experiences of joy in the Christmas season.
“I do wish everyone to enjoy ‘Navidad en Indy’ and find empathy, find community and find ways of helping migrating families,” she said.
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