Judith F. Baca

In the section titled Arrivals and Departures the art piece titled La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra: Colorado (2000) (The Memory of Our Land: Colorado) by Judith F. Baca is introduced. At first glance I was astonished by the wonderful piece. It illustrated such an amazing story and I was able to interpret it into my own. At first, I thought the image just represented the migration of Mexicans, per say, travelling across the border to the United States of America. I was born in California, so I am not able to relate to the struggles others faced in order to get here, but I know that my dad was one of the brave men who crossed the mountains in order to search for and begin their new life in the “other side”. To me, this image was depicting a family crossing the border in search for the American Dream. Upon reading about what the actual image meant I was surprised because I was able to understand its meaning so well without actually knowing the intentions of Judith F. Baca. This image is a representation of her grandparents. Baca stated that she illustrated this family like this in order to take away from the misinterpreted image people assume when they hear of immigrants such that they often cross the border in trucks crowded like animals. The fact that she depicted this so beautifully in order to take away the stigma of immigrants crossing like animals really captures my love for her work. The book also states that Judith F. Baca illustrates the concept that people use to cross the border back and forth until there was a line that decided which side you belonged too.