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| Migration is beautiful |
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De Esperanza Y De Locura closed but it has stayed with me: I
find myself ruminating over pieces I saw there in the way that I run my thumb
over a swatch of cloth, feeling the same small part again and again, for the
pleasure of feeling it and, in feeling it, knowing it. So I re-begin this blog
that was so close to my heart that I had to stop writing it with an exhibition that
is no longer up but, I believe, still speaks.
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| Los Brincos |
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This show pulled together several artists-- Erika Harrsch,
Miguel Luciano, Esperanza Mayobre, Omar Pimienta, Favianna Rodriguez and Judi
Werthein--on the topic of migration. Though none of the pieces were
collaborative, the resounding theme across the show was one of flight. There
were kites and butterflies, most particularly the Monarch butterfly—which,
because it migrates between México and North America and takes several
generations for each migration, is an apt symbol for Mexican-Americans—altered
passports and paper currency that invoked dreams of the ease of motion across
borders that butterflies have. Collectively, the exhibition set about imagining
a new geopolitical geography, erasing limitations and exploring the freedom of
flight, of superseding borders.
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Pimiento, Harrsch and Wertheins’ installations all directly
addressed the politics and physical limits of the borders. Pimiento works
primarily with expired passports, which he takes and alters, granting the
holder citizenship to Colonia Libertad in Tijuana. His simple inclusion of all
into the Colonia defined by transition and passage extends the reach of Colonia
Libertad to all the places in the world where Libertad citizens reside and
grants the holder movement to move freely across all the earth’s landmasses. While
Pimiento imagines passage into a borderless world, Harrsch sets forth a united
North America, a borderless union of Canada, the United States and Mexico,
“similar to NAFTA yet, in this case, actually providing equal social, political
and economic benefits to all citizens of these regions.” She, like, Pimiento,
also designs passports; hers, however, are embossed with a monarch butterfly,
as is her flag of The United States of North America. Her installation features
a series of passports mounted on the wall with history, law and hopes of her
fictional land inscribed on them as well as a “Wheel of Fortune,” which
attendees could spin to determine if and how they could pass, with the
potential to land on illegal alien, non-citizen, caution, try again, citizen,
you are not eligible.
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Werthein’s “Los Brincos” was one of my favorite pieces here.
She created the shoes (for that is what Los Brincos are: a pair of shoes in the
likes of Air Jordans—meaning, “the jumps,” the athletic shoes play on the high
cost and coveted status of some athletic shoes) specifically for a pathless
journey through the desert: they come equipped with compass, flashlight, map of
crossing-routes on the bottome and painkillers in case of injury. She designed them
toe-forward towards the U.S.: the Aztec eagle is embroidered on the heel and
the American eagle on the front. She sold them in San Diego and NYC galleries
for 215 dollars and distributed them for free to migrants.
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| United States of North America-Passport Installation |
Rodriguez, Luciano and Harsch, in another piece, all
literally used wings in their pieces. Rodriguez created “Migration is
Beautiful,” a mural of butterflies flying upwards and out from three children.
It comes with a poster featuring a single butterfly, based on the monarch
butterfly, but the markings, in this case, outline faces. Hers is a celebration
of the “beauty, pride and resilience” of migrants. Luciano, with his “Dreamer
Kites” performs a similar celebration. He used images of Dreamers—students who
are undocumented but wish to study—, made kites out of them and mounted them
from the ceiling, literally giving them wings.
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