"My work in painting, performance, and installation investigates how women identify their strengths and sensuality in performing labor in which there is no visible economic or social value, and frequently is considered "dirty." I also subvert the typical overtly folkloric representations of Mexican women in paintings by changing my protagonist's uniform to the quintessential little black dress.

Wearing this symbol of American prosperity and femininity, the protagonist tangos through this intangible dilemma with her performances at the San Diego/Tijuana Border—a place I myself had to cross to study and live in the US. Moreover, the black dress is transformed into a funerary symbol of luto , the Mexican tradition of wearing black for a year after a death.

In addition to highlighting ongoing social political conflicts, the works also underscore the intersection of everyday tasks and fantasy from both sides of the political/gender divide, illuminating the psychological walls that confine and divide genders in a domestic space."—Ana Teresa Fernández