By Camila Heredia Oranday.

“Con el nopal en la cara” translates to “with the cactus on the face” and is a saying that we have among Mexicans when someone tries to hide their true self because they feel ashamed of who they are.
I must admit that I have hidden behind the cactus before. Every summer, my cousins and I would go on vacation, and whenever we went to the kid’s club or we met kids that were our age, we would pretend to be from the USA, and we fake an American accent. This hassle was easier for us than to let them know we were their neighbours down south because this statement was usually followed by questions like: “Do you have schools? Do you ride donkeys to school? Do your houses have roofs? How do you know English so well?”. At that time, we didn’t realise how discriminative and disrespectful these comments were, which were comments coming straight from their parents’ mouths, but we just knew they made us feel inferior. They made us feel like we couldn’t be proud of our own country in the same way they were about theirs.

Furthermore, I was very lucky to have presented my artistic indie publication Con el nopal en la cara at the Visionary Minds event held by the Fashion Room in Florence, Italy, where many other artistic and fashion people presented their final indie projects.

Why Con el nopal en la cara is an indie publication that lead us to expand our vision on world

The urgent desire to leave: what drives Mexicans to migrate?

Con El Nopal En La Cara is an exhibition that takes the form of a publication. It speaks of the urgency that many Mexicans have in wanting to leave the country in search of better opportunities and a better quality of life — also asking ourselves: Where does this need come from? From our parents? From society?
It also sheds light on the experience of leaving one’s home country for any reason, talking about the sacrifices, discriminatory remarks and treatment, bureaucratic challenges, and the act of leaving your home behind in pursuit of your goals.
This collective work presents six young artists from Mexico who have had experiences related to the central theme — migration. Each artist has created a new artwork that aligns with the exhibition’s central theme. The featured artists are: Raquel Almanza, Jessica García Corral, Amelia Urdaneta, Carola Abad Abreu, Emilio Arnau, and Lisa Nicole Webb.

Understanding migration through art: what happens when you leave?

The narrative is divided into three chapters, each featuring two artists, and is based on plant and root metaphors. It tells the story of someone who left Mexico and is going through a reflective phase that many of us experience when we leave our home country. The narrative highlights the sacrifices that need to be made in the process.
The first chapter discusses the extent to which we are willing to sacrifice, like being away from family, friends, pets, and our community, to be able to have better opportunities in another place and achieve goals that may be out of reach in our country.

The second chapter is about our unyielding resilience and our ability to defend ourselves against adversity, even when placed in a completely unfamiliar environment without any connection to our past.
The third and final chapter emphasises the importance of embracing our roots and taking pride in them without hesitation or wanting to ‘hide behind the cactus’.

One of the artworks was created by Jessica García Corral, Alumna of Istituto Marangoni Firenze. Currently living in Mexico City, the artist used her expired passport, which she had used to study in the United States and Italy, to portray a text she wrote in response to the question: Why leave?

The neverending cycle: expanding the conversation on migration

I wanted this project to have a lasting impact. In collaboration with the artists involved in this first edition, we plan to take this initiative to new audiences, both national and international. We aim to build a cultural bridge that highlights the richness of our heritage, which will be achieved through Open Calls for Mexican artists who want to be part of Con el Nopal en la Cara.
This collaborative focus will not only increase our visibility but also strengthen the message of unity and resilience that we want to convey. We are committed to making this project a tribute to the vibrant Mexican talent and a testament to the transformative power of art and migration.