Leddy Saenz next to her art installation, “Somerville Quipus: The Stories of Padres Latinos.”

By Mina Rose Morales

Leddy Saenz sits quietly on a community picnic table in Somerville, Massachusetts, drawing, coloring, and communicating with a friend. On a peaceful Saturday morning of August 22, surrounded by trees and greenery, she points to her art installation not far away: a quipu.

The Somerville Community Growing Center installed Saenz’s “Somerville Quipus: The Stories of Padres Latinos” in June 2026. The ancient Incas used the quipu as a mathematical way to count harvests and population. Saenz, however, used it as a means for immigrants to tell their life stories despite the prevailing political climate. Initially, the center intended to run it until the end of August. Now, organizers have extended the display until the end of September.

The quipu begins at the top with four knots representing the year they came to the U.S. The highest knots symbolize the thousands tier, followed in descending order by hundreds, tens, and single units, according to Saenz.

“They’re basically sharing when they arrived [in] the U.S. and then the different color ribbons are different milestones within their lives,” says Saenz. The ribbons also stand for the personal losses experienced in their past.

“We feel the gardens themselves are a creative experience,” says Lisa Brukilacchio, the Growing Center’s board vice president. The center welcomes art as a way for people to share their stories, histories, cultures, and food.

For Saenz, creating art is inseparable from her identity. Through her work, Saenz explores hybrid identity, immigration, and community storytelling. When referring to hybrid identity, she explores her Peruvian culture and her American experience. Despite the many art pieces she has created, Saenz is proudest of the quipu.

“I would say Padres Latinos, the quipus, because it’s a community project. In terms of bringing the community together, it’s meaningful. Also, the time that we’re in right now politically,” says Saenz.

The “Somerville Quipus: The Stories of Padres Latinos” glowing. (Mina Rose Morales/ The Somerville Times)

Since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 6,000 people in Massachusetts, according to figures from the Deportation Data Project. This rate is higher than the numbers recorded during the last months of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Saenz asked Yumi Izuyama if she could display her art installation at the Festa Junina, a traditional Brazilian harvest festival that honors rural culture. Saenz wanted the last part of her project to be a celebration at the Festa. The center hosted the festival on June 13, 2026. This year’s theme was the Three Sisters, with the intent to celebrate the Americas—North, Central, and South America.

“[The] Festa Junina has a history in Brazil of resistance to oppression,” says Izuyama, the event’s lead organizer.

The quipu has received a positive reaction from most who come into the community garden. It even glows at night.

“What I’ve seen is especially children and youth of different ages interacting physically with the art. The art can be touched. It has texture to it. It has movement in the wind,” says Paula Jordan, the site and children in nature initiative coordinator.

“When it’s gone, it’s going to be missed,” says Jordan.

The quipu was a highly sophisticated way the Inca Empire used to track data. Saenz’s artistic interpretation reclaims this system as a tool for immigrants to record their stories. In a period where records are used to monitor displaced people, this project empowers them to use this ancient data tracker to say: I’m here. I’m human. This is my story.