A Lie Told Once Remains a Lie, but a Lie Told a Thousand Times Becomes the Truth.

The title references the widely attributed quote to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels—rendered in black papel picado to contrast the festive Mexican tradition with the dark mechanics of propaganda, repetition, and manufactured truth.

 

America in Distress

Employing the festive visual language of Mexican papel picado, this series satirically transforms the American flag upside down into a fragile, inverted symbol of national distress. Drawing and cutting operate as communal labor, using celebration as satire to confront the violence embedded in immigration policy, surveillance, and contested ideas of national belonging.

America in Distress
2025
papel picado (perforated paper)
Installation view

America in Distress
2025
papel picado (perforated paper)
Concept view