This Mexican clay cooking pot represents my family history. It has different meanings like hard work because in Mexico, most of the men in the house hold would go and work, while the women in the house would stay. They would care for the animals and plants and sell them to other people. Together they would pay off the bills. At the end of every long day, the family would gather, pray, and then eat a big meal. I visited my grandma once and had to help her kill some of the chickens and boil them. From the clay pot like the one above, we had to pluck the chickens and remove their skin. As a kid, I would be intrigued by a headless chicken running around, I always wondered how and what was the science behind all this. The pot reminds me of a clay plate because my grandma would make really thick and big tortillas with a pinch of salt. When you would eat one, it would make you feel as if pain and suffering didn’t exist in the world and the day would get a little bit warmer. The food was always the motive to go to Mexico and visit my grandma - I thought as a child that the older the cooker, the better the food was.

– Hugo C. Quintero

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