- Ireri Andrea Muņiz Ortega: I like abstract forms.
Yeah, I think it's more freestyle exploration,
being inspired by nature and colors.
My name is Ireri Andrea Muņiz Ortega.
I'm from Mexico City, and I'm a textile artist.
Coming from Mexico, specifically from Mexico City,
if you go out to the streets,
there are a lot of colors everywhere, you know?
Like going to a market, the mercado or a tianguis,
like all the fruit, all the sounds even.
So I always try to bring some of that to my exploration
and to my creations.
[gentle harp music]
I studied communication, and in 2017, that year,
there was a big earthquake that hit the city.
And I was, after that, experiencing anxiety attacks,
panic attacks, so I was looking for an activity
to help me to, like, calm me down.
All these loop movements with the thread and the needle,
that helped me to calm my nerves.
So that not only helped me to, like,
heal that really big thing in my life,
but also, like, I was, like, hooked.
I wanted to keep doing it.
This is, like, a flower.
And I just love these, like, signs that people put,
like, in the markets.
Since I'm here, I found that I'm not the only one
having these feelings and these thoughts, right?
So, we are always thinking about home, our casa.
I think community activities,
community spaces or projects can help us, like, heal that.
The way I connect with the community right now
is through my workshops.
The Dia de los Muertos celebration that we organize
in Viola, Wisconsin,
and that event is pretty special for me
because of the meaning of the celebration.
We believe that starting the night of October 31
to November 2, the dead temporarily come back
to visit the living from the Mictlan,
that is the underworld of Aztec mythology.
[soft vocalizing]
You know, when you migrate to a new country,
there is this process of saying goodbye
to this comfort zone,
this, like, amazing space that you know.
And then, like, start these new dreams
and this journey to a new place.
And I've learned, since I moved to the U.S.,
to try to carry this sense of home with you
all the time.
What's home to you.