North Texas artists are using their paintings, sculptures and performances to speak out about immigration issues.
As people across the country protest against the surge in ICE activity, including the unlawful and violent arrest of U.S. citizens, many artists are sharing their thoughts and feelings through their work.
Want to follow along? Here are some of the North Texas artists who are making or have made art about immigration:
This Oak Cliff artist has created work about climate migration and the U.S.-Mexico border for over a decade. Last year, she said the president鈥檚 second term has motivated her to lean into her work given the executive orders on immigration and climate change.
One of her pieces 鈥淨ue Vamos Hacer鈥� will be featured at the Latino Cultural Center鈥檚 upcoming exhibition 鈥淭he Journey North: Hope, Labor and Culture鈥� which is open until Feb. 27. The acrylic painting features silhouetted figures, a mother and her two children, migrating due to rising heat.
In 2016, she created the painting 鈥淲elcome鈥� about detention centers. The painting features the dangling legs of immigrants who are wearing ankle monitors.
鈥淭his is what I've always made work about. I've made work about difficult things that people don't want to talk about or people don鈥檛 want to show work about,鈥� she said.
Over the years, multidisciplinary artist Tina Medina has created artwork telling stories about migration, identity and displacement among other themes. She incorporates objects like cornhusks, family photos and fabrics to create collages, paintings, videos, installations and performances.
In 2022, she created the movement-based performance 鈥淟a Enorme Distancia鈥� with collaborator Sara Herrera. It was inspired by the classic Mexican song with a title that translates to 鈥淭he Enormous Distance.鈥� The work speaks to the building of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the physical and symbolic distances that borders create.
Through slow, mirrored movements with a piece of fabric between them, Herrera and Medina embodied the distance between loved ones due to immigration policies.
鈥淎s a woman of Mexican Indigenous ancestry born in the United States, I feel a deep responsibility to create art that addresses current issues like immigration through the perspectives and lived experiences of Mexican ancestry,鈥� Medina said. 鈥淥ur continued struggle to exist and be recognized within this country drives me to represent those who have endured racism, bigotry, and xenophobia.鈥�
Robles, a first generation Mexican-American, creates paintings exploring the experiences of immigrants. His series 鈥淪omos鈥� is about the sacrifices immigrants make as they pursue the American Dream.
鈥淭hrough the use of personal family images, home-videos, and other source materials, I intend to give my audience a different perspective of who we are as a people,鈥� Robles writes on his personal website.
The artist uses traditional painting methods, wall compound, fabric and other mediums in his work. In the series, Robles paints halos around each of the figures depicting the virtuousness of ordinary actions and uplifting each of their stories as people who often experience prejudice.
The Colombian-American mixed media sculptor has explored issues of migration and violence in his artwork.
In 2018, he debuted a series of sculptures and installations at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center which speaks to our perceptions of refugees and immigrants.
Some of the works included in the series are large banners that have Spanish phrases like 鈥淣o Mas,鈥� and 鈥淭u y Yo.鈥� Upon closer inspection, viewers can see the words are made of tiny stamps of human figures.
Vallarino said he created the work in this way to express how we鈥檙e not seeing people as individuals.
鈥淪o just like the context of quote, unquote 鈥渞efugees鈥� as a whole, but when you closer, when you start studying the individual then you realize there鈥檚 something much more special about that individual,鈥� he said in .
This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Bernardo Vallarino's name.
