Mixed media on Home Goods frame. 9”x12”.

I use the app MapMyWalk to trace my father’s lawnmower paths when he cuts grass at other people’s homes, a job that doesn’t require more interaction and that he chose to do when he emigrated to the United States at an age in which he felt incapable of learning English. I set MapMyWalk on the “wheelchair setting” so my dad’s mower movement could be detected by the app.

Through the act of recording his movement I attempt to validate my father’s labor as a form of language.

In addition, the works invites to think about perimeters as they are experienced by the immigrant. The stability of solid constructions in contrast with the spontaneity of human movement. The places that are allowed and the places we can only dream of. Demarcations, manicured lawns, perfectly planned neighborhoods as portraits of the American dream. I also think about how, even though my dad can walk, he can’t speak the language, which at his age may feel like a disability that he challenges through daily labor.