Bricolage and Repair: “Patched” “To be ‘patched’ is to be mended, repurposed, reassembled. The image here is domestic and artisanal: tapes spliced with scotch tape, fabric mended by hand, playlists assembled from fragments gleaned at flea markets or radio request shows. At a symbolic level, patching represents cultural survival strategies. Migrant communities often repurpose materials—objects, languages, songs—to maintain continuity without access to original contexts. A patched cassette—two songs recorded over, labels scribbled—becomes a palimpsest of feeling: the same tape may hold a wedding march, a protest chant, and a lullaby hummed at 2 a.m. The aesthetic of the patch thus resists polished authenticity; it privileges the assembled, the improvised, the repaired. It valorizes visible seams and glues, the marks of use that testify to a life lived rather than a commodity displayed.”