Rafa Estrella

 I have always been fascinated by various aspects of identity, but in particular the way our identities get formed and get transformed when we move from one location to another. Coming from Mexico at a very young age, I have always asked my self, how has living in the United States of America, influenced my upbringing as a Mexican or Mexican-American? Throughout my senior project I continued to ask my self the same question and as I reflected on what had and has influenced my identity, I came across a “troca de frutas” or fruit truck, the subject of my piece. Growing-up I always encountered this troca de frutas with my mother and brother to either visit relatives or on our way to the hospital. Its location fixed in one of the several Mexican neighborhoods in the Chicago area, Pilsen. This truck besides its personal connection—buying and eating fresh and delicious fruit in the company of my mother and brother—also has other underling meanings. During my time working on the project I realized that the truck is not only a truck that sells fruit, but it is also a symbol for many aspects of the Mexican-American identity. It stands as a vehicle that carries something beyond fruits both literally and metaphorically; it carries the intense labor of Mexican “obreros,” the weight of “el sueño americano,” the risks and hopes of thousands of immigrants crossing the boarder leaving families, friends, and their identities behind, and the struggles and injustices of our government. Through the use of clay, combining aspects of mosaics and murals, and various iconographies I have juxtapose the different layers that create the Mexican-American identity in the United States of America. The troca de frutas is just one of the several vehicles that transport the various aspects of our identity.