Migrant Herbalist is a project where I investigate the diversity of medicinal herbs that have migrated in the last two decades due to the forced displacement of the Mexican community to the United States. I also reflect on how the use of herbs, traditional medicine, its healing practices and rituals have crossed borders and subsisted through time.
In the Migrant Herbalist archive and I capture the graphic form of the soul of each herb and its healing power through historical techniques of cameraless photography and embroidery. Inspired by Anna Atkins’ photographs of seaweed, I created a series of cyanotypes on cotton fabric, made from the healing herbs that have migrated with us and that I have collected from Mexican grocery stores in New York City neighborhoods.  Each cyanotype archives a variety of diverse components including barks, pollen, seeds, flowers, petals, leaves, and branches, which can appear alone or assembled in bouquets.