Futuro Ancestral explores transformation through the life of my grandfather, tracing how one body can carry multiple histories across time, geography, and systems of belonging. At its center are two connected figures: one references the ancient sculptural traditions of western Mexico, where my grandfather was born, while the other reflects the life he built after immigrating to Los Angeles. The figures are joined through the form of the US–Mexico border, not as a fixed line of separation, but as a space where identities are continually reshaped.

Layered throughout the composition are personal and historical fragments: native plants and animals from my grandparents' home, an Alien Registration Card, the Los Angeles skyline, Dodgers imagery, and references to my grandfather's labor at American Apparel. Rather than unfolding as a linear story of departure and arrival, these elements exist simultaneously, suggesting that ancestry, migration, labor, and everyday life continue to coexist within the same person.

Digital glitches weave through the image as both interruption and bridge. They reflect the instability of memory across generations while acknowledging how contemporary technologies increasingly shape the ways we archive, transmit, and reconstruct family histories. Here, the glitch is not an error but a connective space where ancient knowledge and digital culture meet.

By placing my grandfather in direct visual continuity with the ancient traditions of western Mexico, the work questions how modern institutions define identity. If his ancestral lineage predates the border by thousands of years, what does it mean for that same body to later be classified as an "alien"? Rather than presenting transformation as assimilation or loss, Futuro Ancestral understands identity as cumulative, continuously shaped by ancestry, labor, migration, memory, and technology without ever severing its connection to where it began.

Material: Digital collage printed on canvas

Dimensions: 18in × 24in × 1.5 in