0:00:00.584,0:00:03.584
(suspenseful music)

0:00:11.430,0:00:13.830
(Guadalupe)[br]The name came to me very naturally.

0:00:15.747,0:00:19.714
I was in Oaxaca and I had a dream

0:00:19.921,0:00:21.183
that kind of shook me up.

0:00:24.480,0:00:26.610
I remember seeing a lot of butterflies

0:00:26.631,0:00:29.424
and lightning bolts together in the storm.

0:00:31.050,0:00:34.230
And that morning I got up,[br]I was at a red light,

0:00:34.230,0:00:35.966
and there were two <i>abuelitas</i>,

0:00:35.994,0:00:37.434
and they were talking about

0:00:37.455,0:00:40.749
how this healer would often[br]come and heal the town.

0:00:41.700,0:00:43.432
Her name was Mariposa Relámpago.

0:00:47.310,0:00:48.750
That's when I said,[br]"Oh, wow.

0:00:48.750,0:00:51.611
I just had a dream about[br]butterflies and lightning bolts."

0:00:53.976,0:00:55.658
That's where the name comes from.

0:00:58.267,0:01:00.020
"Mariposa Relámpago."

0:01:01.005,0:01:03.755
(wind whooshing)

0:01:06.667,0:01:09.667
(harmonica blowing)

0:01:20.083,0:01:21.889
This is spirits playing right now.

0:01:22.699,0:01:23.699
(harmonica blowing)

0:01:27.681,0:01:31.098
(gentle harmonica music)

0:01:45.900,0:01:47.703
(Guadalupe) Sound is really powerful.

0:01:50.340,0:01:54.060
There's a universal way[br]of experiencing healing,

0:01:54.060,0:01:55.533
and it's by using sound.

0:01:57.210,0:01:58.383
And everyone feels it.

0:01:59.340,0:02:01.860
Everyone that's alive feels it.[br]The plants feel it.

0:02:01.860,0:02:03.860
The animals feel it. The babies feel it.

0:02:08.149,0:02:10.102
I think everyone needs to heal something.

0:02:10.123,0:02:12.623
(bell chimes)

0:02:17.346,0:02:19.740
What's happening in the border[br]in the United States

0:02:19.740,0:02:21.903
is a major impact in who I am.

0:02:26.820,0:02:29.550
I was an undocumented unaccompanied child

0:02:29.550,0:02:32.163
coming from El Salvador,[br]escaping the Civil War.

0:02:34.230,0:02:36.903
I migrated here in the '80s.

0:02:42.390,0:02:45.270
For me, the border[br]is not just the physical wall

0:02:45.270,0:02:47.700
that's separating Mexico[br]and United States,

0:02:47.700,0:02:50.733
but a whole journey[br]that asylum seekers take.

0:02:52.229,0:02:55.105
(dramatic music)

0:02:57.240,0:03:00.180
A lot of the work[br]that I have done for myself

0:03:00.180,0:03:02.970
is to actually confront[br]those cities and those towns

0:03:02.970,0:03:06.721
that I traveled as an[br]undocumented unaccompanied child.

0:03:06.721,0:03:09.721
(suspenseful music)

0:03:35.220,0:03:37.530
The bus culture growing up in the '80s

0:03:37.530,0:03:39.180
was really big in El Salvador

0:03:39.219,0:03:41.078
because we would have[br]these blinged out,

0:03:41.099,0:03:43.722
formerly American yellow school buses.

0:03:45.240,0:03:46.800
I was fascinated by these buses

0:03:46.800,0:03:48.529
because they were highly decorated.

0:03:49.200,0:03:51.750
And I was obsessed[br]with looking at all the details,

0:03:51.750,0:03:54.955
all the shiny objects,[br]all the handmade things,

0:03:54.976,0:03:56.669
all the absurd things.

0:03:58.155,0:03:59.072
(bell chimes)

0:03:59.100,0:04:01.533
So the whole idea for me[br]came that I wanted

0:04:01.533,0:04:05.220
to bring a school bus[br]from El Salvador to the United States,

0:04:05.220,0:04:07.920
and I wanted to have[br]the same migratory path

0:04:07.920,0:04:08.970
that I had as a kid.

0:04:08.991,0:04:11.991
(suspenseful music)

0:04:17.679,0:04:18.679
(metal sounds)

0:04:22.930,0:04:24.610
(metal sounds continue)

0:04:26.433,0:04:29.509
In order to turn it to a gong,[br]we have to first flatten it out.

0:04:30.150,0:04:33.000
Like it has this giant ding here

0:04:33.000,0:04:36.723
and a few imperfections there,[br]but I think we can get it.

0:04:38.186,0:04:40.936
(birds chirping)

0:04:46.860,0:04:49.080
For me, it's always been important

0:04:49.080,0:04:50.913
to make my own instruments.

0:04:54.330,0:04:56.190
Even when I'm making sculptures,

0:04:56.190,0:04:57.930
I'm always really thinking about

0:04:57.930,0:05:00.052
using recycled materials for them,

0:05:00.780,0:05:03.033
and repurposing objects.

0:05:05.670,0:05:07.380
Thinking of animism and the energy

0:05:07.380,0:05:09.810
that these materials[br]hold is really important

0:05:09.810,0:05:11.223
to what I'm exploring.

0:05:11.244,0:05:13.994
(birds chirping)

0:05:17.547,0:05:20.703
(birds chirping intensify)

0:05:27.578,0:05:28.578
(birds chirping stop)

0:05:32.940,0:05:35.520
When I was a student in New York City,

0:05:35.544,0:05:38.415
there weren't that many role models[br]that I could look up to.

0:05:46.800,0:05:48.900
I realized that my teachers didn't know

0:05:48.900,0:05:50.080
what I had gone through

0:05:52.185,0:05:54.271
and how important healing was for me.

0:05:59.190,0:06:01.530
The main influence[br]that I had was looking back

0:06:01.530,0:06:04.570
at my ancestry, the Maya, the Curanderos.

0:06:12.593,0:06:13.743
Okay, go for it, Billy.

0:06:15.550,0:06:17.190
(Guadalupe) They were the healers.

0:06:17.190,0:06:20.430
They were the ones[br]that could write and draw and sculpt

0:06:20.430,0:06:22.240
and also create rituals.

0:06:26.640,0:06:28.200
Directly connected to them,

0:06:28.200,0:06:30.450
I was like,[br]"I want to make healing rituals."

0:06:35.535,0:06:38.613
(gentle harmonica music)

0:06:38.892,0:06:40.425
(harmonica music intensifies)

0:06:46.680,0:06:48.633
(Guadalupe) It's a vibrating bus.

0:06:50.700,0:06:52.500
It's a vibrating healing instrument.

0:06:52.538,0:06:53.933
(wind whooshing)

0:07:00.427,0:07:03.933
"Mariposa Relámpago"[br]has around 700 objects.

0:07:05.220,0:07:07.083
Every object has a meaning for me.

0:07:09.721,0:07:12.639
Part of the work is[br]to actually find the objects.

0:07:12.660,0:07:15.973
(bell chimes)

0:07:16.380,0:07:17.551
I was in Mexico City

0:07:17.551,0:07:22.551
and I saw a pair[br]of metallic silver slippers,

0:07:23.970,0:07:26.850
and it looked like a[br]child had been walking

0:07:26.850,0:07:28.323
for a lot of time.

0:07:29.129,0:07:30.979
I almost got emotional when I saw it,

0:07:33.180,0:07:35.730
and I felt the energy of the walking

0:07:35.730,0:07:37.770
and all the unaccompanied,

0:07:37.770,0:07:40.353
displaced children[br]that were traveling with me.

0:07:42.754,0:07:44.302
There's been thousands of people

0:07:44.307,0:07:46.508
that have experienced "Mariposa Relámpago"

0:07:46.967,0:07:49.708
in all these different cities[br]that it's traveled through.

0:07:51.306,0:07:54.396
I really wanted to bus to tour the border

0:07:54.417,0:07:55.540
as much as possible.

0:07:55.559,0:07:56.559
(wind whooshing)

0:07:57.494,0:08:00.077
(gentle music)

0:08:02.923,0:08:05.970
(crowd chattering)

0:08:05.970,0:08:07.743
Everyone, thank you for coming.

0:08:08.820,0:08:11.070
Think of being in the park[br]or being by the ocean

0:08:11.070,0:08:13.743
where you sit there[br]and just listen to the birds.

0:08:14.536,0:08:16.622
You don't have to be[br]an expert in meditation

0:08:16.641,0:08:18.028
to feel the experience.

0:08:18.352,0:08:19.430
Just listen to it.

0:08:19.484,0:08:22.592
(soft blowing sound)

0:08:24.318,0:08:27.425
(gentle ambient music)

0:08:27.450,0:08:29.450
(soft blowing sound continues)

0:08:31.929,0:08:34.145
(gentle ambient music continues)

0:08:38.032,0:08:40.034
(bell chimes repeatedly)

0:08:43.350,0:08:44.850
When I'm doing a ceremony

0:08:44.850,0:08:46.800
and we're producing sound,

0:08:46.800,0:08:49.253
it doesn't feel[br]like I'm even playing an instrument.

0:08:50.490,0:08:52.743
Sound can be used in different ways.

0:08:57.270,0:08:59.943
The power of "Mariposa"[br]can be felt around the bus,

0:09:01.440,0:09:03.753
but also inside of the bus.

0:09:06.480,0:09:08.250
You can sit or lay on the bus

0:09:08.250,0:09:09.960
and feel the vibration

0:09:09.960,0:09:12.093
and the healing qualities that it has.

0:09:13.077,0:09:14.426
(gentle music vibrates)

0:09:17.966,0:09:20.568
I had so many mixed feelings[br]going to the ceremony.

0:09:20.602,0:09:23.185
(gentle music continues to vibrate)

0:09:24.990,0:09:27.060
It was open to the general public,

0:09:27.060,0:09:29.730
but also we had border patrol agents

0:09:29.730,0:09:31.713
on the bus during the ceremony.

0:09:36.090,0:09:38.970
Being in Marfa,[br]an environment that is similar

0:09:38.970,0:09:42.573
to the same lines[br]that I crossed when I was a child,

0:09:43.680,0:09:45.753
I think I was in tears at some point.

0:09:49.320,0:09:50.943
And it's a very scary space.

0:09:52.140,0:09:54.360
There's certain roads you gotta show ID

0:09:54.360,0:09:56.310
and tell them that you're a citizen.

0:09:58.020,0:10:00.900
There's actually a blimp[br]that travels in the area

0:10:00.900,0:10:04.953
looking for refugees[br]to arrest them and deport them.

0:10:06.930,0:10:09.270
My community sees them[br]as very threatening,

0:10:09.270,0:10:12.360
but I realized that I[br]wanted to do a ceremony

0:10:12.360,0:10:14.292
for border patrol agents,

0:10:15.060,0:10:17.100
because it's not just about healing those

0:10:17.100,0:10:18.210
that have been hurt,

0:10:18.210,0:10:22.473
but also healing other[br]more complex situations as well.

0:10:25.917,0:10:29.167
(blowing sound)

0:10:31.508,0:10:32.508
(suspenseful music)

0:10:40.230,0:10:43.030
(Irlanda) The camp that I was working at,

0:10:43.320,0:10:47.044
it's a place where unaccompanied children

0:10:47.310,0:10:48.940
that cross the border,

0:10:49.525,0:10:52.075
first, they go[br]to the border patrol center,

0:10:52.080,0:10:55.323
and from there, they get sent to a camp.

0:10:58.410,0:10:59.610
They are just kids,

0:10:59.610,0:11:06.012
so it makes it very hard[br]to see them worried

0:11:06.033,0:11:09.423
and see their sadness.

0:11:12.480,0:11:15.000
They are some of the most resilient kids

0:11:15.000,0:11:16.893
I've ever met in my life.

0:11:16.927,0:11:18.744
(gentle music vibrates)

0:11:19.950,0:11:22.620
I was on the phone with my coworker

0:11:22.620,0:11:24.813
and I'm telling her about you.

0:11:27.817,0:11:30.630
"Dude, this guy, he's a grownup version

0:11:30.630,0:11:32.667
of the kids we were taking care of."

0:11:34.444,0:11:36.234
It's funny that you said[br]that, because

0:11:36.488,0:11:39.690
yesterday I was talking to law enforcement[br]that works at the border.

0:11:40.290,0:11:42.000
When she started talking to me,

0:11:42.000,0:11:45.294
she was talking to me like I was[br]that 8-year-old little boy

0:11:45.330,0:11:46.610
that she encountered.

0:11:47.499,0:11:48.543
You know?

0:11:48.563,0:11:52.020
She was like,[br]"Yeah, I wanted to embrace you,

0:11:52.020,0:11:54.989
I wanted to hold you, but I couldn't."

0:11:54.989,0:11:57.572
(bell chiming)

0:12:00.345,0:12:01.620
(bell chimes again)

0:12:05.559,0:12:06.559
(bell chimes again)

0:12:07.408,0:12:10.158
(wind whooshing)

0:12:10.445,0:12:11.445
(bell chimes again)

0:12:15.610,0:12:16.820
(bell chimes again)

0:12:16.846,0:12:19.679
(waves splashing)

0:12:19.837,0:12:21.357
(bell chimes again)

0:12:23.638,0:12:27.055
(gentle harmonica music)

0:12:33.121,0:12:35.511
(gentle harmonica music[br]in rhythm to the images)

0:12:39.590,0:12:41.610
(Guadalupe) As a child in El Salvador,

0:12:41.610,0:12:44.853
I would be constantly drawing[br]the New York City skyline.

0:12:45.930,0:12:47.460
So when I look at that skyline,

0:12:47.460,0:12:50.523
it just symbolizes the journey[br]through the United States.

0:12:52.352,0:12:53.845
(gentle harmonica music)

0:12:55.883,0:12:58.346
That journey still continues to this day.

0:12:58.362,0:13:00.042
(gentle music vibrates)

0:13:02.310,0:13:05.103
Healing is gonna be happening[br]for the rest of my life.

0:13:09.870,0:13:11.500
Sound is medicine.

0:13:12.468,0:13:13.721
(thunder)

0:13:16.839,0:13:18.652
(harmonica stops softly)

0:13:18.881,0:13:20.213
(wind whooshing)