Hi everyone,

My name is Acacia Boerboom. I’m an NYC-based artist, writer, and founder of Algae Magazine, an independent publication exploring the environmental and social impacts of fashion through art, writing, and research.

I’m incredibly grateful to share that I’ve just been accepted into a 40-day artist residency in Mexico City—my mother’s home country—where I will develop the fourth edition of Algae Magazine, titled 'Luchando'.

Luchando takes its name from the colloquial phrase “haciendo la lucha,” which my mother often said growing up—an expression meaning to work, strive, or persevere. This project explores labor in migrant communities, centering garment workers and addressing the exploitative conditions that they endure in clothing factories across America.

During my time in Mexico City, I will learn traditional textile practices such as backstrap loom weaving, embroidery, and huarache shoemaking to re-connect with my Mexican heritage and reclaim the traditional methods of production over the modern, industrialized ones.

This opportunity is deeply meaningful to me, especially with the current immigration enforcement and labor precarity in the U.S. Your support—of any amount—would directly help cover travel, housing, materials, and daily expenses during the residency.

Up to this point, I’ve fully self-funded three editions of Algae Magazine, which have been distributed through university libraries like Rutgers and Parsons, as well as independent bookstores across New York City. I’ve balanced this work while earning a minimum-wage income and covering the high cost of living in NYC.

If you’re able to contribute, share, or support in any way, it would truly mean so much to me. This project is not only about my growth as an artist, but about creating space for art in a time of labor precarity and immigration violence in the U.S. and worldwide.

By the end of the residency, I will have created a collection of textile objects in collaboration with local artisans in Mexico City. This work will directly inform the next edition of Algae Magazine and expand its mission of amplifying underrepresented voices and centering the lived experiences of those whose labor is often made invisible.

Please share with friends and family.

Thank you,

Acacia B