Draw Me a Picture of How This Affects You
The importance of art and imagery to transcend political views in conversations on subjects as important as immigration is incalculable. “Art reinforces the movement, it helps grow the movement, [and] it creates the identity of the movement. It educates and it inspires… It cannot be underestimated.”
“The free exchange of ideas, including between populations from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, is both a core of American democracy and an absolute necessity to our future. As outlined in a Supreme Court amicus brief joined by Americans for the Arts, live, in-person interactions, such as arts experiences with immigrant artists, cannot be replaced or replicated under the conditions of the travel ban which directly violates the right to receive information under the First Amendment. ” [2](Americans for The Arts, 2018) It would be short sighted to downgrade the value of an opportunity to hear the expression of their experiences from an individual from a foreign land whose birth and life in a distant place has had a profound effect on their outlook; or see first-hand the artwork of such a person and witness the colour and tone that they use in their imagery.
“Intercultural exchange through programs that improve mutual understanding and appreciation of our cultures, both here and abroad, is crucial to our society and our place in the world.”[3] (Americans for The Arts, 2018) Not only do cultural exchanges allow artists from distant locales to have their work influenced by the free society that used to be the United States, it also allows for artists living and working here in the US to have their ideas and work challenged and broadened by colleagues alive and deceased working in similar mediums around the globe.
In Matamoros, Mexico — The artist Patricia Ruiz-Bayón is one artist whose “work is part of a growing art movement in the Rio Grande Valley exploring immigration politics and a rise in drug violence in the region over the past four years. Although the artists’ circumstances and their audiences vary, depending on where they live, they see themselves as part of a transnational community that is artificially divided. The piece, “70+2…,” commemorated an act of extreme brutality that continues to traumatize the region: a 2010 massacre of 72 migrants in nearby San Fernando that the Mexican authorities say was carried out by the Zetas criminal gang. On the day of the performance, barefoot and dressed in white, the participants, two men and a woman walked slowly through soil that Ms. Ruiz-Bayón had transported from a San Fernando cornfield, evoking a mass grave but also hope and renewal. Then they walked along an infinity symbol that had been carved into the dirt, signifying the eternal path of migration.”[4] (Tillman, 2014)
Through their hard work and dedication to telling their stories immigrants allow what has grown into a global community audience to hear their stories and see their truths through the arts. They are not only making their marks but sharing their stories through what can only be described as the visual language of art. “Much like the work of musicians in the 1960s, the work of artists has helped galvanize the base and bring new individuals into the immigration reform movement. Because the movement is multilingual and doesn’t center on one language, imagery has been a particularly effective means for doing this.” [5](Americans for the Arts, 2018) The voice and message of the immigrant cannot be quieted. Instead it is illuminated many times through their words but most often through their symbols.
[1] Constantini, Christina (March 1st, 2013) Hopeful,’Unapologetic’ Art Rebrands the Immigration Movement http://abcn.ws/2oh7cdk
[2] Americans for The Arts – Statement on the Arts and Immigration (Seen: February 18th, 2018) http://bit.ly/2Cvdxa1
[3]Americans for The Arts – Statement on the Arts and Immigration (Seen: February 18th, 2018) http://bit.ly/2Cvdxa1
[4] Tillman, Laura (January 2nd, 2014) A Vale of Terror, Transcended http://nyti.ms/2ofOq68
[5] Americans for The Arts – Statement on the Arts and Immigration (Seen: February 18th, 2018) http://bit.ly/2Cvdxa1
