Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
A Community of Non-Citizens: Proving Worth of Citizenship Through Stitching Samplers (A Work in Progress) is an ongoing project in which the artist collaborates with those who live in the United States but are not citizens. Sifuentes hosts workshops for immigrants who are interested in becoming citizens and helps them study for the naturalization test by embroidering the questions and answers. The sampler form recalls Colonial America and the stitching young girls and women would do to demonstrate obedience, skill, and accomplishment to attract future suitors.
The works are sold for $725—the cost of applying for naturalization—with proceeds returning to the artist’s non-citizen collaborators.