American Traditional

60 x 8 inches

tattoo ink on silicone rubber 

Tattooed onto a recreation of skin made from silicone rubber, American Traditional repeats and physically engraves the expiration date of my Permanent Resident Card, more commonly known as a “Green Card.” This date marks an expiration of my identity in the U.S., pointing to the alienating condition of living in a suspended legal temporality. It raises the question: how does the body itself become an “illegal alien” once its status expires?

– Rafaela Astudillo