Nepantla is the lived experience of existing between worlds at the same time. It is the space of transition, duality, and transformation, where identities blend, histories overlap, and movement becomes a way of life. This series of three sculptural gateways explores Nepantla through culture, time, and migration, reflecting the layered experience of life in the Southwest and the broader Mexican and Mexican American diaspora.

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The first gateway evokes the feeling of inhabiting two cultures at once. Under the quiet watch of the moon, keeper of memory, myth, and oral tradition, it celebrates the stories passed across generations and carried within each individual. The second gateway mirrors the ancient with the contemporary, connecting the visual language of Meso-American architecture to the skyline of modern Phoenix. Here, the viewer stands within two eras simultaneously, grounded in history while facing the future. The third gateway captures movement between worlds. Like the Monarch Butterfly migrating through Phoenix, it symbolizes continual passage, renewal, and the resilience of those who live between places, adapting and thriving as they journey.

 

Together, these three archways form a passage through Nepantla, not as a struggle to choose one world or another, but as a powerful space where identities intersect, coexist, and flourish.

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Date: 

2025

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Location: 

55th Avenue Promenade in the historic Maryvale Neighborhood, Phoenix, Arizona

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Dimensions:

Each of the three archways measure 20' W x 13' 4” H x 6” D

 

Medium: 

Stainless Steel, UV cured printed acrylic panels

 

Artists:

Joseph O’Connell + Creative Machines