Betsabeé Romero draws on elements of popular culture and the traditions of Mexican art in her homeland. Her work is concerned with themes of memory, identity and human migration. For Romero, culture is always in transit and she explores the identity and traditions that Mexican immigrants carry with them in journeys to the United States, often using cars and car parts as symbolic of this movement. While these journeys inform her work directly, she is interested in broader ideas around migration related to the human condition. She has written that “All of us are migrants between life and death. It is a migration that is inevitable and real”.

Amarillo al Cubo is reminiscent of the decorative cut-out papers traditionally displayed in small towns and cities during Mexican celebrations. This is a mixed tradition of Asian origin, brought to Mexico via Spain, which the artist describes as “A fusion made of acceptance and resistance, contribution and recycling. Endless movement in our culture of colonisation.” As with her other works, this installation acts as a window to the past and a safeguard of memory against time and movement.