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[Bed Stuy, Brooklyn]

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[October 2013]

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[ZACARIAS] Yeah, I think like, it needs to[br]be like that...

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[Marela Zacarías, Artist]

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Because we need it to come out to like here,[br]you know?

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[New York Close Up]

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Perfecto!

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So let's get started!

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["Marela Zacarías Goes Big & Goes Home"]

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We don’t want to cover the whole thing.

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I guess the trick is just to barely, barely[br]touch it.

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Because the more...

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Like, if you push, it’s going to start changing[br]shape.

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[Marela has been commissioned to make a piece[br]for the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico.]

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[It will be her largest sculpture to date.]

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I painted murals for ten years.

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And while making this work and being in the[br]community is wonderful,

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there’s a part of it, of making public art,[br]that is a little constraining,

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where the creative process only lasts

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for the time that you’re making this little[br]mockup.

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There was part me of that needed more,

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that needed that moment of creating while[br]you're making.

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Yeah this part of the process is pretty much[br]all instinct...instinctive.

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I just try to find like pressure points and[br]tension in the mesh

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and it kind of tells me where to go.

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There’s twenty different pieces that come[br]together into one.

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They all fit into each other...like a puzzle.

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[January 2014]

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My nature is very colorful.

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You know, like I want to express color.

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Once I choose colors I have to kind of record[br]what I’m doing.

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I number all the colors that I use.

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We’ve created our own kind of color numbers,[br]you know?

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This piece actually has sixty-seven colors.

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Part of it is very intuitive, the way that[br]I’m choosing colors,

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but then I kind of have to put down a record[br]of those decisions.

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I’m not that kind of personality

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where I like to plan and I’m organized,[br]you know?

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It’s something that I’ve had to learn.

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This is 31, yeah?

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And then this is 5.

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This is 22.

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Like I would probably just extend those lines,

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like up to here.

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Yeah.

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[ROOPENIAN] So I’m just usually looking[br]at the map

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and trying to get a point

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where I can know generally what her intention[br]is

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and not have to be back and forth with each[br]detail.

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Because we live in Brooklyn

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and we can’t have space that just lets us

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put up what we want to see...

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I never quite get to see it fully put together.

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Marela's always got a secret in her back pocket,

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which is the final piece.

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[ZACARIAS] I’ve always felt the influence[br]of patterns from textiles.

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The ways that color is being used in some[br]of these is sophisticated.

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Like for example here,

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you know, just the uses of pink with this

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kind of earthy red and then a little yellow.

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And it’s you know kind of unpredictable[br]and exciting.

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That’s sort of something that I look to[br]do in my own work.

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Oh this is mom, with me, in Mexico.

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My mom is an anthropologist.

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So she actually led, like, the research on[br]this project.

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These ancient cultures used their clothing

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as a way to show their relationship

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to their universe, to the earth, to their[br]community.

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And the amazing thing is that

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a lot of these symbols from the Mayan era

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are still being used today.

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So there's some kind of a cultural resistance

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that happened through this clothing.

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[PEW] Marela, you know, has lived half of[br]her life,

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or over half of her life now,

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in the U.S. even though she's from Mexico,[br]so...

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There's a beautiful aspect that it is, kind[br]of,

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the return of her gifts back to, kind of,[br]her home,

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the homeland--

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even though it will be the U.S. consulate,[br]but...

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[LAUGHS]

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[ZACARIAS] And this 36.

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[PEW] All that’s really left here...

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I mean, the colors and patterns, obviously,

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are really shaping up here now

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and just to kind of dial in on some last taping[br]and designs there

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and then we’re going to be pretty much done.

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[February 2014]

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This is usually, you know...

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It's like two or three all-nighters.

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Tearing out hair and biting nails.

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So yeah, the next month,

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Saturday night we have a baby shower for this[br]piece.

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And then the piece leaves on Tuesday.

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There’s a truck involved

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and then there’s a plane involved at some[br]point.

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And then it lands in Mexico.

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[Monterrey, Mexico]

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[June 2014]

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[U.S. Consulate General Monterrey]

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[Marela is showing her work in Mexico for the first time.]

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[ZACARIAS] Thinking back to when I was sixteen

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and was coming to the States,

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I was really interested in the Mexican muralists.

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They were able to paint the history of Mexico

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in these very important buildings.

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Even though the politics have changed so much,

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you can still go to the National Palace

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and see the story of colonization and the[br]Revolution.

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It was kind of crazy that that this opportunity[br]came

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for me to do it in a place that is also

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a building that is going to be there for a long time

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and that has these connotations of history.

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The piece can live for a long time.

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[Jorge Herrera Lavín, Father]

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[LAVIN, IN SPANISH] This is fabulous.

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It’s like, in a space so strict and full[br]of rules...

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it's like, this gives it a little flexibility.

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I don’t know.

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It's like it reduces and tempers the rigid[br]protocols.

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[ZACARIAS] I mean, there’s so many problems[br]with the immigration system today.

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The relationship between these two countries--

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the way that undocumented workers are treated,

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the way that people are being deported.

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And yet, there’s stories of people who come[br]here and,

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like me, are now able to make art.

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I mean, I’ve been very lucky.

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So, for me to do this piece,

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it was like really meeting myself

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kind of in the middle of it.

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I want to connect to the people that are,[br]like,

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going through this transition.

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You’re changing when you’re going through[br]the consulate,

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not just because you’re getting a visa or[br]a green card,

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but your life is changing.

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I know that there’s part of me that has[br]gone through this

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that wants to give something to the people

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who are going through that change.