Identity

Curated by Erica, Melissa, Citlali, Aransa

Light Panels

Baby blue skies encapsulate the positive ambience that surrounds poems and collages of how travel participants see their identities. The various artworks demonstrate the different journeys and stories that each participant carries within. Through the creation of this panel we create a space to have conversations that surround our identities that are tied to the impacts of our immigration stories: who we are vs who we are told to be. Who we choose to be is up to us and how we write our own migration stories is in our power.

Dark Panels

Surrounded by rain clouds are the dark panels at the center of the display. These panels were meant to represent the pain and difficulties we face concerning our multifaceted identities. The collages and poetry found on these panels were made by the travel participants before and after the Building Binational Bridges Convening. These artworks follow the theme of identity and highlight the struggles that we experience in forming our identities around immigration policy. These works shed light on the difficult conversations surrounding the identities of immigration-impacted individuals and tell a story that is often left in the dark. 

Butterfly Affirmations

Beautifully flying in the light sky, these butterflies represent the transformative elements of understanding one’s identity. Like a butterfly transforming from a caterpillar, we too have transformed through our healing process. The butterflies, painted by our team with various patterns, carry affirmations about how beautiful it can be to embrace ourselves and celebrate our identities.

Rain Drops

Falling down, rolling off the umbrellas which protect the kites are rain drops. Each raindrop depicts a different quote collected from the auto-ethnographic field notes or collective poetry activities which illustrates moments of vulnerability from participants. These quotes reflect and encapsulate the experiences of individuals who have been impacted by exclusionary immigration policies and the effects this has had on their sense of belonging and identity.

Kites

These kites were created during a workshop in Spring 2024, following the Building Binational Bridges Convening. This workshop was an opportunity for the participants to gather in a safe space and process their experiences on the trip. Everyone who attended created a kite collage that reflected the theme of evolving their identities. As they were creating it, they were to think about things they wanted to let go of on the trip that helped them in this journey of identity. For some, the kite symbolizes the act of letting go of labels or the baggage of their identities. For others, their kite represented the connections to people, places, and things that provided growth during their journey. In the end, the vision was to process the trip to Mexico and provide a healing space and method for unpacking the thoughts and emotions associated with that experience and how they have helped (re)shape their identity.