Emperatriz
By Ximena Jimenez
Mixed media textile art incorporating embroidery, cyanotype, sewing, and drawing.
My relationship with migration began long before I moved to Australia.
My grandparents moved from the Andes to the coast; my parents, from the coast to the Amazon, and later to Lima, the capital of Peru. With each move, they sought better opportunities—prioritising education, especially learning English—as a way to secure a better future for me and my sister.
My mum made the bold decision to focus on her career, a choice that drew criticism from the familia—but also allowed us to afford English and computer lessons. In 2023, I returned to Peru and began seeing my mami through a new lens—one where I better understood her absence and the layered challenges of migration.
While working on this project and going through my family archive, I found two photos I had never seen before. One showed my mum with her colleagues—she stands out as the only woman on the team, and also, the boss. The other was a big surprise: the only existing photo of me with my abuelita, who I had always believed I never got the chance to meet.
This project is an act of reimagining and reshaping my own story—a tactile expression of the strength carried within us, woven across generations. Using reclaimed textiles, Emperatriz pays tribute to the intergenerational effort that made it possible for me to build a life in Australia.
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