Salazar, Sam Parker

Sam Parker Salazar
Hilliard , OH

The concept for the Build Hope, Not Walls project speaks to me because I have personally experienced the tension immigrants must overcome in our country. My mother and entire maternal family immigrated here from the former Yugoslavia (modern day Serbia-Montenegro) in the 1970s. I watched as they have grappled with cultural and linguistic differences in a new country. My grandmother always said it felt like she belonged nowhere, with her feet on each side of the ocean. Conversely, my father's ancestors were among the first European settlers of North America. Fort Parker, which was established in modern-day Waco, Texas was the site of one of the most brutal massacres in American history.

The Parkers were known for chasing down the western dream of Manifest Destiny, settling far into Comanche territory. Quanah Parker, the last Comanche Chief, represented a controversial blending of European and Native blood, the same blood that flows through me today. As I think of these contrasting histories, I feel compelled to take part in this project that speaks out against xenophobia. My brick will be made of a delicate, simple material: paper. The paper will be cut so that each side reveals a different traditional textile pattern--one side Eastern European and the other side Native American. Through light and shadow, these two patterns will intertwine inside the brick itself.