With a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Rockefeller Foundation, Mexican artist Alejandro Santiago has created an art installation of 1,500 life-sized clay figures. The Picasso-style abstract sculptures represent those who have left his small hometown of Teococuilco, Mexico- located in the southern state of Oaxaca- to look for a better life in the U.S.

As Santiago discovered first-hand after returning from several years in Paris, this trend has come to affect many parts of Mexico, expecial rural Southern states. As working adults migrate to the U.S. in search of work, the very young young and the elderly are often left behind.

Santiago and his crew of 35 workers plan to complete 2,501 sculptures in total by the end of August, which will then all be  exhibited in Monterrey, Mexico beginning in September.