If the acrylic paint used for this work reminds you of cake decorations, it’s deliberate. Mayorga saw that art form often in neighborhood bakeries and at home while growing up in Moline, Illinois. Engineered to look like a sugary dream, this work’s thick gobs and layers of paint veer into something sickly—even suffocating. As a second-generation Mexican American, Mayorga experienced the terror U.S. immigration policies enacted on Mexican nationals. It makes her reference to a Polly Pocket toy home a poignant place of safety rather than solely pretty or playful.

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