As part of its ongoing ARTE NUEVO series, El Museo del Barrio invites artists to propose unique, site-specific works for its large wall in El Café. In this case, sculptor and textile artist Sarah Zapata spent several weeks in Peru studying indigenous textile design and techniques, which she incorporated into this large work. The artist is interested in the intersection of popular and traditional cultures as well as in a mix of natural and fabricated materials. She has also been deeply inspired by ariplleras, hand-sewn narrative works that were made in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship and also throughout the guerilla occupation in Peru. Made almost exclusively by women, these were an important political tool, sometimes the only way that information about the violence and repression could be disseminated to other countries. The artist adapts these hand-made techniques and ideas to a monumental scale and incorporates plastic elements that are reminiscent of pop culture imagery.