Coachella attendees have a reputation for sporting native headdresses during the Indio, California festival, so when a sign bearing Yalitza Aparicio’s face started popping up all over social media during the first weekend of Coachella, we were immediately grateful to see the face of an actual indigenous person taking up space there.
The sign came courtesy of Coachella attendee Jesus Nuñez, who fastened a giant cardboard cutout of the Roma star‘s look from the Oscars to a pole. Nuñez is the son of Mexican immigrants and was raised in Baja California, and says Yalitza’s story of survival inspired him to create a tribute to her. Over email, he said, “The reason why I was inspired to make the sign with the image of Yalitza was because of her story. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your culture is, you can achieve a lot of things as long as you propose to do it. Despite all her success, she’s still down to earth.”
Nuñez and Yalitza were spotted all over at the Empire Polo Club grounds – doing the La Chona Challenge at Los Tucanes de Tijuana’s historic performance, taking photos with fans during Mon Laferte’s set, and even hitting up Bad Bunny’s show.
Check out our favorite Yalitza sightings from this past weekend below.
@monlaferte en vivo desde @coachella Coachella #coberturaGR @YalitzaAparicio pic.twitter.com/NFblThwTXf
— Grita Radio (@GritaRadioMusic) April 13, 2019