Translation can be an art or a craft; seldom simple, it is often unappreciated. We tend to forget that the global community of ceaseless interconnectivity could not exist without translation, or bilingualism. Without translation there is Babel, but with its quiet, endless grinding, translation brings down walls and creates porous cultures that cannot help but influence one another.

The current exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Found in Translation: Design in California and Mexico, 1915–1985, ponders this theme. The exhibition features more than 250 items, a combination of crafts, photographs, films, and posters. It explores the dialogue of mutual influence in architecture and design between Mexico and California. There are four main themes: Spanish Colonial Inspiration, Pre-Hispanic Revivals, Folk Art and Craft Traditions, and Modernism.