A cabinet hangs against the wall, diamond screen (steel fence material) covers the front of the cabinet, a small plaque is attached, centered on the screen.  It reads: ?Variety is the Spice of Life.?  The air smells of cilantro, two telephone receivers hang on the wall connected to the cabinet.  Upon closer examination of the cabinet, you realize that it is filled with cilantro.  The audio played through the receiver includes statements made by Mexican-descent Americans. 

The statements are their perceptions of acculturation and assimilation in to the dominant culture.  For example:

?I have taken pieces of the American culture and pieces of the Mexican culture and integrated them into my own.?

?I?m Mexican and an American.  I see that I?ve gotten the best of both worlds...so I don?t think I?m losing anything, I?m just learning how to integrate, coordinate.?

?...I see myself as a knowledgeable person and in some sense I?ve kinda forgot where, more history or culture from my country, the importance of it.  So I need to be more educated.  So in a sense, I did lose some of my cultural sensitivity or ideas or ways of thinking.?

The audience listens to the struggle of these Mexican-Americans to negotiate both worlds.  At a certain level we examine the extent that an individual?s ethnic identity must be compromised in order to succeed in this society. 

We draw on common prison metaphors to highlight how Mexican culture is ?held in check,? often telephones are used to facilitate communication between prisoner and visitor.  The diamond screen mimics the Mexican-American border, often metaphorically referred to as a floodgate keeping back the tidal wave of immigrants. 

Medium:  display case, sound mix, audio CD player, headphones, steel fencing, cilantro, signage

Date:  1995