This is a qualitative case study, using a feminist lens as a theoretical frame, that examines institutional problems that Mexican women encountered since the Bracero Program. At that time, women were not allowed to work certain jobs and were left at home separated from their husbands or fathers while the men migrated to The United States for seasonal agricultural labor as Braceros. Braceros were Mexican male farmworkers that were recruited through a federal guest program to legally work and migrate to the United States seasonally after World War II, from 1942-1964. As a result, women were left alienated and exploited on their own, and it was up to them to take charge of the family and hold everything and everyone together. There is little known research that discusses these women’s experiences and stories. And to uncover these stories, I address the ways photography and traditional Mexican storytelling, and arts-based storytelling reveal hidden stories of family, longing, sacrifice, and women’s unrecognized labors. Through an autoethnographic methodology, I explain my place as a Mexican American woman and as a researcher during the study. This study uncovers the history of migrating Bracero families, acknowledges the women’s experiences, and discusses the importance of passing down stories of an often-overlooked moment and experiences of migration and immigration in both United States and Mexican history.

I saw a Dove ad called "Real Beauty Sketches" where a group of women described themselves to a sketch artist, and then a complete stranger described them to the same artist. By the end of the ad, it's apparent that the women, when describing themselves, were very critical of all their features. When total strangers described them the resulting portrait was more beautiful to the women. The take-away from the campaign was that others see more beauty in you than you do in yourself. I explored that idea through my thesis. My aim in this project was to learn to see the beauty in myself through personal artistic expression. I completed a series of self-portraits; for about four months straight I drew one portrait of myself every single day. I also recorded my thoughts in a diary entry as I drew my portrait, hoping to capture my emotions and moods during that day. The resulting outcome of my creative project is twofold. The physical outcome is about 100 self-portraits and daily diary entries that represent the creative thesis project I pursued. The second outcome cannot be physically seen. I have discovered more about myself in four months than I have in twenty years. I have begun to see myself differently, and positively. This thesis project turned into a journey of self-exploration, and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for me.

How Was I to Know You Wouldn't Let Me Forget? is a art installation created by Christine Adams showcasing printmaking media, including lithography and etching. This installation was based on Adams' childhood bedroom and featured small bedroom shrines, a common motif throughout girlhood. The portraits of the people in the show are all individuals who Adams met between the ages of 13 and 21 and who have left her life, commenting on whether or not someone can ever really leave you.

‘why we bend' a Bachelor of Fine Arts honors thesis exhibition by Ximenna Hofsetz and Tiernan Warner brings together installation, digital, sculptural, and printed artwork. The main focus concerns memory; and its vague, formless, and hazy nature. The work also examines what would happen if cognitive space could be physically mapped? What would it look like in sculptural form? Memory erodes and distorts with time. We influence our memories as much as they affect us. Thus, just as relationships are ever-changing, and our memories of those we interact with constantly shifting, our relationships with our own memories are malleable and evolve through time. This transient nature of memory is depicted in the various stylistic means of this exhibition by referencing time and space as well as personal memories and ephemera in both concrete and abstract ways. ‘why we bend’ implements a variety of multimedia techniques to examine recollection and its hold on us.

I admire people who take a stand and rise up to defend their homeland, tradition, and identity. Like my people, the Jews, who are Israel's indigenous people, the Native American people also suffered genocide and were expelled from their homeland forced to wander. Like us, after centuries of persecutions and sufferings they were given a tiny land back that nobody else wanted previously and they still need to defend it. Like us, they rose up from the ruins with wounded people and formed a nation. Cultural Expression in the 21st Century celebrates the culture that surround us, yet many of us misunderstand or simply miss. It shows that the Native American culture wasn't vanished despite predictions of anthropologists and photographers in the 19th Century. The exhibit invites the viewer to see how art and culture help preserve each other, and how traditional and contemporary can be fused into one. The presented artwork concludes my two year honor thesis project for which I was traveling throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and California to collect testimonials and photographs. The exhibition is also complemented by artwork invited contemporary artists, Steven Yazzie and Tiffiney Yazzie. The artwork varies in media, including inkjet-printed photography, traditional copper photogravures, digital composites, and a short art documentary.