[1] Based in Brooklyn and Mexico City, Barbata's work uses art and performance to encourage social justice by documenting traditions and involving communities in her practice.
She moved to Sinaloa, where her father was a restaurateur,[2] and spent the early part of her childhood in Mazatlán with little or no access to museums.
[3] She studied sculpture and engraving at the School of Visual Arts at the University of Rio de Janeiro and architecture in Mexico City.
[8] In 2002, while working as an artist-in-residence in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbata was introduced to the founder of the Keylemanjahro School of Arts and Culture in Port-of-Spain.
Barbata suggest that the children could develop and create their own costumes to learn about the environment and other cultures, and worked with Keylemanjahro to discuss possible themes and design of characters for the kids to portray and compete.
[3] Barbata has continued to work with the Brooklyn Jumbies to extend outreach programs in different parts of the country, particularly in communities or areas that are populated by Mexican descendants and African-Americans.
The Moko Jumbies walked on stilts in business suits towards Wall Street, while Barbata strolled and danced in front handing out gold-covered chocolate coins.
[13] Barbata sent documents making her case for Pastrana's release to Norway's National Committee for the Evaluation of Research on Human Remains.
López Valdez sent a letter to the National Committee for Ethical Evaluation on Human Remains, NESH, to request for the repatriation of Julia Pastrana to her native state for burial.
The university accepted Julia Pastrana's repatriation to Mexico, but with the conditions that she never be exhibited again, that she be buried and not cremated, and that she be given funeral services following her Catholic faith.
Ms. Barbata and a University of Oxford forensic anthropologist, Nicholas Márquez-Grant, noticed that Pastrana's feet still had bolts and metal rods that were used for exhibiting her body.
Pastrana was dressed in an indigenous huipil made by Francisca Palafox, a master weaver from Oaxaca[11] and placed in her coffin with a photograph of her child on her chest.
[16] Barbata has explored Pastrana's story through a variety of other mediums, such as through performance work, photography, and stop motion animation.