These Nayarit dolls represent the traditional Huichol outfits. The Huichol are indigenous people of Nayarit, Mexico, where my mom immigrated from My grandma and her 6 kids all migrated to Oregon in the 1990s hoping to find work and better education. All of my grandma's kids had picked up a job by 16 years old, my mom had started working around 14 years old. For a long time, my mom couldn’t afford to take a trip to Nayarit, since finances were a struggle. My mom gave birth to her first child at 16 years old, in the long run, she’d come to have 7 kids. On top of being a single mom, she had to work. Soon after giving birth to me, she started working full time, regularly over time, in a cannery and has been for the last 18 years. Even though my mom wasn’t able to travel back home, my grandma and tia could. 20 years ago they brought these dolls to my mom. They now sit on a chimney in my oldest brother’s room. Since migrating to the States, my mom graduated from high school, had 7 kids, bought her own home, became a U.S. citizen, married a man who looks out for us like his own kids, and finally visited Nayarit in 2017. Written on the pedestal of the dolls on the right is “Memory of Nayarit.” So to serve as a reminder to my grandma and tia of not only their trip but my mom and the family of our roots. Regardless of what my family goes through and where we stand today, our blood is from Nayarit, Mexico.

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant