“El Barrio,” Spanish for “The neighborhood,” became the first in Leff’s hand-cut paper series titled “Made Home.” The idea for “Made Home” was born the moment Leff turned a corner in Mexico City and found herself face to face with a universal symbol – a Chinatown gate. She’s always enjoyed eating her way through new places, and she’d been traveling in Mexico for three weeks and eaten escamoles (ant larvae and pupae) and nearly every taco she came across. But once she saw the paper lanterns, bao buns, chubby panda illustrations, and piles of noodles in Chinatown, she felt something she could only describe as “home.” No matter how seasoned a traveler she is, sometimes she just wants a taste of home, and Chinese restaurants are some of the most consistent independent restaurants in the world, where you know exactly what to expect from the menu. To Leff, that familiarity when you’re far from home in another country “feels like a tight hug.” “El Barrio” shows a cultural melange; the signs are in Spanish, but they advertise Chinese stores and restaurants. This scene of Chinatown in Mexico City is hand-cut by Leff from one sheet of paper from an original photograph she took during her travels. The passers-by wear masks, indicating the time period during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The artist also notes that “I went with blue and white because it feels like a very calm combination, and although others may see the scene as chaotic, that city chaos just feels homey to me.”