Armado

In this evocative piece, Matute transforms the serious posture of construction work into a moment of childlike imagination. A figure stands poised, caulking gun extended like a weapon from an action movie, capturing that liminal space where a child sees their parent's tools as objects of power and adventure. Rendered in precise charcoal against mint green construction board, the drawing celebrates the dual reality of immigrant family experience—while adults use these tools to build new foundations in unfamiliar lands, their children reimagine the same instruments as props in games of make-believe, finding joy and agency in mimicking the labor that shapes their world.