The typed pieces, called Soinomitset (Testimonios), are the result of my fascination for documenting oral histories. The onion skin paper is a lightweight, almost transparent, paper often used for typewriting.
The black ink is typed in the original Spanish language that the woman spoke in. On the opposite side of the page, I have also written an English translation of a piece of the transcript in red. When displayed, the Spanish language is given priority by being shown face out, and able to be read normally, from left to right. The transparent nature of the onion skin paper, allows some of the red ink on the opposite side to be read, but in the opposite way, right to left. This forces the English speaking viewer to have to read backwards in order to understand a very small piece of this woman’s testimony. The work is meant to act as a chorus of the voices of women workers. Much of the testimony is about their experience working in the maquiladora, where they come from, and the difficulty of holding a family together in midst of it.