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This exhibit is a series of tufted textiles that storymap San Lazaro families. The textiles record the ecologies present and changing over time and space, witnessing where folks make home. The series is a visual interview, each rug telling a story with a different family, alongside a transect of life in San Lazaro Mobile Home Park in Northeast Boulder. Visitors are encouraged to engage with the work visually and haptically, seeing and touching the journeys of some of the people who live at San Lazaro.Ìý

This research combines quantitative information in the form of spatial mapping and qualitative information from the oral histories of the residents. Each family was given a series of prompts to answer intergenerationally, about memories of home, how they got here, and emotions and senses along the way. The textile series tells the stories of San Lazaro through many lenses: ecological, familial, cultural, physical, and temporal.

Esta muestra presenta una colección de tejidos que cuentan las historias de vida de las familias de San Lazaro. Los tejidos registran las ecologías presentes y cambiantes a lo largo del tiempo y el espacio, dando testimonio de los lugares donde las personas hacen hogar. La serie es una entrevista visual, cada alfombra cuenta una historia con una familia distinta, a lo largo de un recorrido de vida en San Lazaro, un parque de casas móviles en Northeast Boulder. Se anima a los visitantes a interactuar con la obra visual y hápticamente, viendo y tocando San Lazaro.

Este estudio combina información cuantitativa en forma de mapeo espacial y cualitativa en forma de historias orales de los residentes. A cada familia se le dio una serie de indicaciones para responder de manera intergeneracional sobre los recuerdos del hogar, como llegaron hasta aquí y las emociones y sentidos a lo largo del camino. La serie de tejidos cuenta las historias de San Lazaro a través de varios lentes: ecológico, familiar, cultural, físico y temporal.

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This work was started two years ago, and as the immigration landscape changed, the focus of the work changed as well. After many conversations with participants, it was clear that the most significant part of the project was telling stories within families, to make sure immigrant parents/grandparents and first-gen kids knew their family history and where they came from. As aÌýchild of anÌýimmigrant myself, it was an honor to hold that space and translate stories of many homes.Ìý

This work was completed inÌýthe context of federal agencies disappearingÌýpeople,Ìýpeople who deserve to live with dignity andÌýsafety, where they have put down roots. This is a reminder to continue giving and supporting local rapid response networks. Here is Denver’s: Ìý
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Making Homelands has been exhibited at the Boulder Public Library, Arapahoe Gallery, from August 5 - October 29, 2025.

This work was produced as a collaboration between the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR) in the Environmental Design Department at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ, EcoArts Connections, and seven San Lazaro Mobile Home Park families with designer Sophie Weston Chien. It has been supported by Art Omi: Architecture, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ PACES Grant, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ Council for Arts + Humanities Grant, National Association of Minority Landscape Architects BIPOC Educator Research Grant, and through EcoArts Connections by the Boulder Arts Commission and the Schramm Foundation. Thanks to Marda Kirn, Susana Roriguez, Rosabelle Rice, Claudia Lopez, Leticia Pérez González and Tuft Love.