9 x 12 Inch (framed dimensions 16 x 13 inches). Graphite on paper. Price excludes shipping and taxes.
I sketched this thinking of the nearly 30,000 Haitian migrants who had passed through a camp on the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas when in September 2021, some migrants had bought food in Mexico. When crossing the river to return to the US, US border forces used their horses and in some instances, long reins, to chase and turn them back.
Many of the migrants had been hoping to seek asylum in the US but the Biden administration deported thousands of migrants back to Haiti. The migrants have been treated as some kind of problem to hide, to send away, with a narrative that how they were treated is “not who we are”. But there is a history and recurring pattern in which the US is implicated.
California also has a role in detaining and deporting asylum seekers. In fact, at the time of preparing this painting for showing, a week-long hunger strike was underway in two Californian immigration detention centers, where detainees were calling for improvement of the “soul-crushing” working and living conditions they are subjected to.
In this broader sense, this sketch invites a questioning of the validity of the immigration system as a whole and of people’s ability to seek asylum.
9 x 12 Inch (framed dimensions 16 x 13 inches). Graphite on paper. Price excludes shipping and taxes.
I sketched this thinking of the nearly 30,000 Haitian migrants who had passed through a camp on the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas when in September 2021, some migrants had bought food in Mexico. When crossing the river to return to the US, US border forces used their horses and in some instances, long reins, to chase and turn them back.
Many of the migrants had been hoping to seek asylum in the US but the Biden administration deported thousands of migrants back to Haiti. The migrants have been treated as some kind of problem to hide, to send away, with a narrative that how they were treated is “not who we are”. But there is a history and recurring pattern in which the US is implicated.
California also has a role in detaining and deporting asylum seekers. In fact, at the time of preparing this painting for showing, a week-long hunger strike was underway in two Californian immigration detention centers, where detainees were calling for improvement of the “soul-crushing” working and living conditions they are subjected to.
In this broader sense, this sketch invites a questioning of the validity of the immigration system as a whole and of people’s ability to seek asylum.