Through experiencing the cross-fertilization of cultures along the U.S./Mexico border, Ruben Ortiz Torres has come to reject conventional notions of a singular nation or cultural identity. In Alien Toy, low-rider culture and science fiction are conflated until the vehicle’s origins become unclear. This meshing of references reflects Torres’s belief that identities are constantly in flux, hybrids of the past and the present- a product of fiction as much as reality.