Each month in the Artists for Democracy newsletter, we share actions that you as an artist can take to help strengthen our democracy as well as legislation in the works. We also profile an artist whose work reflects democratic values. This month, we focus on supporting our immigrant neighbors.
ACTION ITEM
Immigrants are welcome here
Immigrants in our communities have been hit hard by racism, xenophobia, the pandemic, and the rise of so-called “America first” policies that actually undermine our democracy. In 2020, Cassils and rafa esparza organized 80 artists to create In Plain Sight, an artwork “dedicated to the abolition of immigrant detention and the United States culture of incarceration.” Skytyping planes spelled out artist-generated messages in water vapor that were visible for miles, flying over detention facilities, immigration courts, borders, and historic sites.
The vapor evaporated quickly, but the messages live on in images and in the minds of people who saw them:
Even with a new administration in the White House, continued action is needed to support our immigrant neighbors. The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) has a special page dedicated to immigration and the arts because they believe, “Law is downstream from culture.” There is so much that artists can do:
—Organize an online arts community dialogue to foster a welcoming community.
—Be visible and public in your support for immigrants. Post, tweet, talk, phonebook, make art, and write to your elected officials to let them know that #ImmigrantsAreEssential. For inspiration, watch this A4DTV artist talk with Cruz and Olivia Ortiz sharing how they engage in democracy as artists and designers.
—Support artists from immigrant communities through projects like the Define American Immigrant Creative Fellowship, Immigrant Artist Program, and TeAda Productions.
—Find your nearest immigrant detention site.
Then look for more ways to engage on all of these TAKE ACTION pages:
LEGISLATION YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Creating legal pathways to citizenship
In his first days in office, President Biden announced the US Citizenship Act. If passed, this legislation would create a pathway out of the shadows and into citizenship for undocumented people who’ve lived in America for years. It would also keep families intact, protect worker rights, strengthen immigration courts, and protect asylum seekers. Right now, it has almost no chance of passing in the Senate. Read a great analysis of the bill from the National Immigration Law Center.
The House of Representatives isn’t waiting, though. They’re likely to vote soon on two bills that already passed in the House in 2019 but weren’t taken up in the Senate. The American Dream and Promise Act will create paths to citizenship for Dreamers and people with temporary protected status. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act will create a path to citizenship for undocumented farmworkers and fix the H-2A temporary agricultural work visa program.
None of these three bills is perfect, but each can help us make our democracy stronger by ensuring that everyone’s rights are protected.
ANOTHER ARTIST FOR DEMOCRACY
Sandy Rodriguez
“There is an authentic way of speaking your lived experience and truth that can appear in a physical object that also inspires change and action.”
For artist Sandy Rodriguez, the idea of democracy is straightforward: “Every person has a voice and vote. You can speak against injustice and demand change.”
That’s also what she does with her work, which is as aesthetically compelling as it is politically powerful. Her Codex Rodríguez–Mondragón is a collection of maps and specimen paintings about the intersections of history, social memory, contemporary politics, and cultural production. Using hand-processed colorants and mineral pigments made from materials she collects on plant walks in her local community, as well as sacred, ceremonial—and once outlawed—amate paper, she reclaims and reaffirms Indigenous artistic traditions of the Americas.
Voice and access are critical to Rodriguez. “The way we define democracy evolves with each generation. It has the potential to be very powerful and amazing, provided that everyone has access. With such a large population of people caged and incarcerated, those voices are absent. That is not democracy.”
Rodriguez uses plant materials that situate each work within specific floristic provinces and also contain medicinal and healing properties. Her paintings are not simply a representation of place but are objects that embody their constituent parts. They contain records, documents, maps, and natural materials that reinterpret histories. Rodriguez presents them as a codex, offering a macro and micro view of humanity in relationship with land, time, and power.
While the outcome of the election last November is a moment to celebrate, Rodriguez worries too many people are patting themselves on the back for a job well done when we should be pressing harder to close immigrant detention centers, especially those where children are still incarcerated. To build a better democracy, she says, we must keep holding our elected officials accountable. Her vision for a better democracy is one where voting in elections is as easy as voting on reality TV shows. Even after the pandemic is over, meetings of elected officials from city council to county commissions to state hearings should continue to be streamed so the public can speak and submit comments online. Access for all—not just those who can take the day off to attend a meeting—should be the goal.
Artists and art students have a special role to play. “When you’re talking about access and voice, there is an authentic way of speaking your lived experience and truth that can appear in a physical object that also inspires change and action.” By keeping issues that are critical to building a better today and tomorrow at the front of their minds and in daily conversations, cultural workers can use art for change, dialogue, and shaping new ways of engaging with one another.
You can see more of Rodriguez’s work currently on view at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and El Museo del Barrio, or read about her at Caltech and her website.
Thanks for reading the Artists 4 Democracy Newsletter. Artists 4 Democracy promotes democratic and civic engagement by mobilizing artists to get involved in political action. Through voter registration drives, fundraisers, and events we seek to foster and protect our participatory democracy. In 2021, we’re focused on building a better American democracy, one centered on racial, social, and environmental justice.
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