Year of Uncertainty Community Partner, BordeAndo, presents Sentimientos en Comunidad (Feelings in Community), an installation of crochet pieces from the collective in the Queens Museum’s entry area and YoU Study space. The exhibition brings to life the uncertain emotions that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to expressing wishes and dreams of the life of each member of the group in an unthinkable way. The embroideries and fabrics embodied in a mouth represent the emotional processes that immigrant women went through during the health crisis, as a way of spiritual and mental healing. These pieces of art tell the present, past and future of more than 30 members of the immigrant community who, when making their weaving, also support each other and share their most intimate fears in order to strengthen each other.

BordeAndo is a crochet and embroidery collective of Latina women living in Corona, Queens. BordeAndo’s collaborative work in textile arts provides a connection to their heritage, a place to find support in one another through their weekly meetings at the Queens Museum, and an opportunity to engage in political education. The group’s name is a play on Spanish words, transforming bordando (embroidering) and borde (border) to create BordeAndo. As they make new textile works, the group shares their own experiences of migration from Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador, the difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants, and the impact of family separation. BordeAndo provides a healing space to talk openly and find support in fellow community members, as well as demonstrate joy, beauty, strength, and resilience in the work the members create together.