This project was unlike any of my previous projects; rather than just working with materials that already exist, I sought to make my own. I grew up in Queens, New York, born in Jackson Heights. It’s one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the U.S, where around 167 languages are spoken each day. I would shop at Pacific Supermarket, an Asian grocery store, and get empanadas from the Colombian bakery right beside it, La Abundancia Bakery, while across, taco trucks would line the street. To say I was surrounded by a great deal of culture is an understatement. 

My work has primarily focused on New York as a whole, but it hasn’t focused on what it means to be a New Yorker, more specifically, what it means to me. As we like to say “New York is my nationality and Queens is my ethnicity,” which means something different to everyone. As for what it means to me, I’m Mexican-American with many different 

cultures instilled within me, with the most prominent one being my Mexican heritage. 

Both my parents are from Mexico, I grew up with lots of Mexican 

traditions and one of which is making tamales every Christmas. We would soak the corn husk in warm water and clean them off (my mom never let us actually make the tamales). Never would I have imagined I would be working with them for a fashion project in the middle of a pandemic. 

I initially went into this project working with pistachios, 

experimenting with different textures. After some more looking around, I came across bags of dried corn husk, and my first thought that came to mind was “jamaica”(ha·mai·ka). We traditionally use it to make agua de jamaica, which is essentially hibiscus tea. It gives off different hues of red that can also be used for dyeing. I never tried dyeing with it myself 

until now. Since my mom has a Mexican restaurant with my uncle, I had most of the materials readily available. I immediately called my mom and asked her if she could bring me some from the restaurant. 

I started with controlled experiments. Boiling the corn husk with the hibiscus for a set period, blending them, and so on. This project is still a work in progress, and the outcomes so far are practices I will include in my future work.