Queens Immigrant Women Craft Living Atlas Through Textiles

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Two immigrant-led collectives in Northwestern Queens, New York City, are using textile art to record and preserve their community histories. These groups, BordeAndo and Las Comadres Bordadoras, consist of women from across Latin America who gather to create textiles together, functioning as what one curator describes as“living archives.”

BordeAndo was established in 2018 as a community initiative of the Queens Museum but has since become an independent collective. Its name reflects the Spanish words for embroidering (bordar), border (borde), and the suffix -ando, signifying movement. Most of its members originate from the Ecuadorian highlands, with others from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Mexico. Their ages range from 30 to 83, and they have resided in the United States for 10 to 50 years.

Las Comadres Bordadoras was formed in 2021 by two Mexican immigrants following the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to combat isolation and build a mutual support network. The name evokes camaraderie; members define comadre as“a midpoint between friend and family.” This group includes women from Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina, aged 35 to 75, who have lived in the U.S. for two to 30 years. Primarily embroidering Mexican cloth napkins, the collective is considered“nomadic” due to its varied meeting locations, including community gardens, public libraries, and schools.

These intergenerational groups offer a sanctuary for many undocumented, working-class immigrants facing racial profiling. Both collectives were featured in the 2023 Queens Museum exhibition, Thread of Voice / Un hilo de voz, which included photographs by Andrés Altamirano and a film by documentarian Eleonora Privitera. The project's visual narrative was a collaboration with Altamirano.

This article is part of a series highlighting underrepresented craft histories, researched and written by the 2025 Craft Archive Fellows in collaboration with the Center for Craft. An ongoing work titled The Collective Map of Paths ( 2025–ongoing ), measuring 50 x 50 inches, captures the essence of this initiative.

Source: Hyperallergic

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