The home is the woman's domain in most traditional Mexican-American families. It is she who provides the meals, she who makes the decisions on what the front yard will look like, she who continues the small ceremonies that make daily life comfortable. Her territory starts with the front yard.
Nothing remains undecorated, however.
The fence has curved adornments, the cement is dyed pink, the front of the house displays the sun and moon, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and two separate street numbers. Situated on a major thoroughfare, just across the street from the University of Arizona, this yard exudes a kind of rural peace. This shrine was erected in memory of a deceased daughter of the family, although such shrines more often represent thanks for miracles granted to the household. With its color and its reflective surfaces, its multiplicity of images and its general sense of luxury, this shrine or nicho truly embodies the baroque spirit that is still so important in the Mexican-American visual world. This is the first appearance in this exhibit of the ubiquitous Virgin of Guadalupe, the Mother of God as she is believed to have appeared to an Indian near Mexico City in the 16th Century.