This installation was hand built using wood from pallets that are typically used for shipment of goods and is reconstructed to resemble a puesto (market stall) inspired by those found at Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

Through this piece, I reflect on the history of Olvera Street through a dual framework that brings primary and secondary literature into dialogue with lived experience, centering the story of my grandmother, Maria Candelaria (1916 - 2009), who ran a business as a seamstress starting in 1938 and until 2001.

I display handcut and printed “price tags” that contain quotes from the primary sources of Christine Sterling (1930 founder of Olvera Street), secondary literature analyzing the Olvera Street’s history, and the oral histories about Maria Candelaria’s lived experience.

The differing narratives challenging the authenticity of Olvera Street, often described as a “copy,” “replica,” or inauthentic space, is reframed as a transformation shaped by people, labor, and survival, through the oral histories about Maria’s life.