Andres Payan Estrada reflects on his approach to sculpture and curatorial practice by centering materials as the starting point for meaning. Drawing on his background in craft, he explores how fibers like flax, cotton, and cochineal carry embedded histories of labor, colonization, and industry, particularly along the US–Mexico border. He highlights how these materials connect ancestral knowledge with contemporary political realities, including power, extraction, and identity. Through this lens, Estrada reveals how artworks can be understood as layered networks of material, history, and cultural significance.