Consuelo Jimenez Underwood has consistently described her work as covering difficult topics while being technically tight and aesthetically beautiful. Four Xewam, or four “flowers” when translated from Yaqui, is an excellent example of this. Featuring the southern border state flowers–California poppy, Arizona saguaro, New Mexico yucca, and Texas bluebonnet–each vibrant scene is severed with leather barbed wire which depicts the U.S.-Mexico border. Jimenez Underwood uses beauty as a strategy to discuss crucial t border subjects such as violence, the separation of families, and ecological destruction, but doesn’t describe border subjects as monolithic either. Stories of survival and growth along the border carry equal importance and cause for reflection.

"The series Sun Set/Rise CA #1-4 (2011) and the tapestries Four Xewam (2013) embody the joy at the core of Jimenez Underwood's artistic practice and were created solely on a loom. These brightly colored floral pieces are playful, yet they have visible references to the border, with the borderline running through them. The barbed wire representing the border in these pieces is constructed using leather. Rather than sewing the barbed wire on top of the weavings, as in her flag series, Jimenez Underwood weaves the barbed wire into the tapestry as if it had been consumed by the spirit." Maria Esther Fernandez, “Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: Welcome to Flower-Landia”, Triton Museum of Art, 2013