“Cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three cultures and their value systems, la mestiza undergoes a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war.” -Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands

What does it mean to be Mexican-American, to come from two cultures that are constantly rejecting or contradicting one another? Before Mexicans were deemed Mexican or Chicano, they were mestizos (of mixed-race) acknowledging their Indigenous and Spanish ancestry. My identity has been a mix all along. In this project I choose to accept all the contradictions, all the history of both my cultures. I take different symbols and icons from Mexican history and American history to create something new that blends two worlds together. In doing so, I construct a new culture, new myths, new icons, new images. Here there is no longer Mexican or American, there exists the new mestiza.