New York-based Mexican artist Raul De Lara carves uncanny, playful wooden sculptures imbued with personal and culturally significant stories to celebrate and foster a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience. Through traditional and innovative woodworking techniques, De Lara combines forms from nature, furniture design, and Mexican and American material culture to examine notions of nationality and identity. Championing a practice of “storytelling through woodworking,” De Lara weaves magical realism and symbolic items, like zompantle wood and Tz’ite beans, into his works to convey memories of his upbringing, Mesoamerican legends and rituals, and even paranormal encounters.