1
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[Bed Stuy, Brooklyn]

2
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[October 2013]

3
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[ZACARIAS] Yeah, I think like, it needs to
be like that...

4
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[Marela Zacarías, Artist]

5
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Because we need it to come out to like here,
you know?

6
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[New York Close Up]

7
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Perfecto!

8
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So let's get started!

9
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["Marela Zacarías Goes Big & Goes Home"]

10
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We don’t want to cover the whole thing.

11
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I guess the trick is just to barely, barely
touch it.

12
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Because the more...

13
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Like, if you push, it’s going to start changing
shape.

14
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[Marela has been commissioned to make a piece
for the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico.]

15
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[It will be her largest sculpture to date.]

16
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I painted murals for ten years.

17
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And while making this work and being in the
community is wonderful,

18
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there’s a part of it, of making public art,
that is a little constraining,

19
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where the creative process only lasts

20
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for the time that you’re making this little
mockup.

21
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There was part me of that needed more,

22
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that needed that moment of creating while
you're making.

23
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Yeah this part of the process is pretty much
all instinct...instinctive.

24
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I just try to find like pressure points and
tension in the mesh

25
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and it kind of tells me where to go.

26
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There’s twenty different pieces that come
together into one.

27
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They all fit into each other...like a puzzle.

28
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[January 2014]

29
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My nature is very colorful.

30
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You know, like I want to express color.

31
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Once I choose colors I have to kind of record
what I’m doing.

32
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I number all the colors that I use.

33
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We’ve created our own kind of color numbers,
you know?

34
00:02:54,780 --> 00:02:57,640
This piece actually has sixty-seven colors.

35
00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,090
Part of it is very intuitive, the way that
I’m choosing colors,

36
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but then I kind of have to put down a record
of those decisions.

37
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I’m not that kind of personality

38
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where I like to plan and I’m organized,
you know?

39
00:03:09,819 --> 00:03:11,550
It’s something that I’ve had to learn.

40
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This is 31, yeah?

41
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And then this is 5.

42
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This is 22.

43
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Like I would probably just extend those lines,

44
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like up to here.

45
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Yeah.

46
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[ROOPENIAN] So I’m just usually looking
at the map

47
00:03:30,430 --> 00:03:32,200
and trying to get a point

48
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where I can know generally what her intention
is

49
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and not have to be back and forth with each
detail.

50
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Because we live in Brooklyn

51
00:03:40,230 --> 00:03:44,810
and we can’t have space that just lets us

52
00:03:44,810 --> 00:03:46,569
put up what we want to see...

53
00:03:46,569 --> 00:03:48,970
I never quite get to see it fully put together.

54
00:03:48,970 --> 00:03:52,300
Marela's always got a secret in her back pocket,

55
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which is the final piece.

56
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[ZACARIAS] I’ve always felt the influence
of patterns from textiles.

57
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The ways that color is being used in some
of these is sophisticated.

58
00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:10,099
Like for example here,

59
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you know, just the uses of pink with this

60
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kind of earthy red and then a little yellow.

61
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And it’s you know kind of unpredictable
and exciting.

62
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That’s sort of something that I look to
do in my own work.

63
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Oh this is mom, with me, in Mexico.

64
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My mom is an anthropologist.

65
00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:38,380
So she actually led, like, the research on
this project.

66
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These ancient cultures used their clothing

67
00:04:41,919 --> 00:04:44,290
as a way to show their relationship

68
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to their universe, to the earth, to their
community.

69
00:04:47,700 --> 00:04:49,010
And the amazing thing is that

70
00:04:49,010 --> 00:04:52,380
a lot of these symbols from the Mayan era

71
00:04:52,380 --> 00:04:53,860
are still being used today.

72
00:04:53,860 --> 00:04:56,530
So there's some kind of a cultural resistance

73
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that happened through this clothing.

74
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[PEW] Marela, you know, has lived half of
her life,

75
00:05:03,020 --> 00:05:04,410
or over half of her life now,

76
00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:07,510
in the U.S. even though she's from Mexico,
so...

77
00:05:07,510 --> 00:05:09,630
There's a beautiful aspect that it is, kind
of,

78
00:05:09,630 --> 00:05:12,250
the return of her gifts back to, kind of,
her home,

79
00:05:12,250 --> 00:05:13,370
the homeland--

80
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even though it will be the U.S. consulate,
but...

81
00:05:17,940 --> 00:05:19,080
[LAUGHS]

82
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[ZACARIAS] And this 36.

83
00:05:23,620 --> 00:05:24,840
[PEW] All that’s really left here...

84
00:05:24,850 --> 00:05:26,330
I mean, the colors and patterns, obviously,

85
00:05:26,330 --> 00:05:27,820
are really shaping up here now

86
00:05:27,820 --> 00:05:31,680
and just to kind of dial in on some last taping
and designs there

87
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,940
and then we’re going to be pretty much done.

88
00:05:33,940 --> 00:05:37,080
[February 2014]

89
00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,340
This is usually, you know...

90
00:05:40,340 --> 00:05:43,160
It's like two or three all-nighters.

91
00:05:43,169 --> 00:05:46,529
Tearing out hair and biting nails.

92
00:05:51,730 --> 00:05:53,730
So yeah, the next month,

93
00:05:53,730 --> 00:05:59,150
Saturday night we have a baby shower for this
piece.

94
00:06:00,340 --> 00:06:03,340
And then the piece leaves on Tuesday.

95
00:06:03,740 --> 00:06:05,680
There’s a truck involved

96
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,100
and then there’s a plane involved at some
point.

97
00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:10,080
And then it lands in Mexico.

98
00:06:12,260 --> 00:06:15,000
[Monterrey, Mexico]

99
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,040
[June 2014]

100
00:06:21,140 --> 00:06:25,160
[U.S. Consulate General Monterrey]

101
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,140
[Marela is showing her work in Mexico for the first time.]

102
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:32,760
[ZACARIAS] Thinking back to when I was sixteen

103
00:06:32,770 --> 00:06:34,350
and was coming to the States,

104
00:06:34,350 --> 00:06:37,490
I was really interested in the Mexican muralists.

105
00:06:37,490 --> 00:06:39,600
They were able to paint the history of Mexico

106
00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,260
in these very important buildings.

107
00:06:42,260 --> 00:06:44,420
Even though the politics have changed so much,

108
00:06:44,420 --> 00:06:45,960
you can still go to the National Palace

109
00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,530
and see the story of colonization and the
Revolution.

110
00:06:49,530 --> 00:06:54,169
It was kind of crazy that that this opportunity
came

111
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for me to do it in a place that is also

112
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a building that is going to be there for a long time

113
00:06:59,570 --> 00:07:02,889
and that has these connotations of history.

114
00:07:02,889 --> 00:07:06,630
The piece can live for a long time.

115
00:07:23,900 --> 00:07:27,060
[Jorge Herrera Lavín, Father]

116
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[LAVIN, IN SPANISH] This is fabulous.

117
00:07:29,380 --> 00:07:34,640
It’s like, in a space so strict and full
of rules...

118
00:07:36,020 --> 00:07:40,340
it's like, this gives it a little flexibility.

119
00:07:40,340 --> 00:07:41,760
I don’t know.

120
00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:46,900
It's like it reduces and tempers the rigid
protocols.

121
00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,580
[ZACARIAS] I mean, there’s so many problems
with the immigration system today.

122
00:07:51,580 --> 00:07:54,900
The relationship between these two countries--

123
00:07:54,900 --> 00:07:57,550
the way that undocumented workers are treated,

124
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the way that people are being deported.

125
00:08:00,050 --> 00:08:03,789
And yet, there’s stories of people who come
here and,

126
00:08:03,789 --> 00:08:06,180
like me, are now able to make art.

127
00:08:06,180 --> 00:08:07,990
I mean, I’ve been very lucky.

128
00:08:07,990 --> 00:08:09,610
So, for me to do this piece,

129
00:08:09,610 --> 00:08:13,190
it was like really meeting myself

130
00:08:13,190 --> 00:08:15,259
kind of in the middle of it.

131
00:08:15,259 --> 00:08:17,699
I want to connect to the people that are,
like,

132
00:08:17,699 --> 00:08:19,039
going through this transition.

133
00:08:19,039 --> 00:08:21,490
You’re changing when you’re going through
the consulate,

134
00:08:21,490 --> 00:08:23,949
not just because you’re getting a visa or
a green card,

135
00:08:23,949 --> 00:08:25,470
but your life is changing.

136
00:08:25,470 --> 00:08:28,509
I know that there’s part of me that has
gone through this

137
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that wants to give something to the people

138
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who are going through that change.