Project Description

Home, for me, is not a structure—it is a presence. As an immigrant from Juárez, México, I left behind my birthplace, language rhythms, and familiar landscapes in pursuit of the American dream. What remained constant was my grandmother’s kitchen. Her recipes, prayers, superstitions, and traditions traveled with me when geography did not.

This image brings me back to her kitchen: the smell of simmering food, the sound of conversation, the ritual of cooking as care. Though she has passed, she continues to live through what she taught us—how to nourish others with kindness, how to honor our ancestors through Día de los Muertos, how to move through the world with gentleness and resilience.

The mural reflects home as memory, inheritance, and survival. It honors the way immigrant families carry culture through food, storytelling, and shared rituals. For many viewers, the image may recall their own kitchens, caregivers, or moments of refuge. For others, it may represent the complexity of home—something longed for, recreated, or remembered.

By enlarging this intimate photograph into public space, the work invites viewers to recognize home not as a fixed place, but as something we carry within us.

Location

River Market West (Delaware) KC Streetcar Shelter

Bio

Vania Soto (she/her) is a multidisciplinary visual artist, muralist, and curator based in the Kansas City metro area. Her practice includes painting, large-scale murals, and community-based projects exploring identity, migration, matriarchal lineage, unity, and collective memory.

Website | vaniasoto.com 

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/Artista_VaniaSoto