PROJECT DESCRIPTION
New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) funded project 2017
Immigration Nation is a community art project created in collaboration with community members and artists guided by artist Nora Valdez. The project uses suitcases as a vehicle to tell the story of individual immigrant journeys. Each suitcase will be transformed into a work of art that celebrates individual stories and represents a collective American experience. In partnership with the Urbano Project and Egleston Square Main Street, over 400 suitcases will be produced and exhibited in three locations in Egleston Square.
MY ROLE
Photographer
As one of the photographers of the Immigration Nation project, I documented many of the community events in which community members came together to paint, design, decorate suitcases that represented their families’ immigrant story. Photographs of the community event, and the suitcases themselves were used for social media and other media related purposes. Additionally, I photographed over 60 portraits of children of immigrants & immigrants themselves that were mounted on beautiful suitcase-shaped frames as a part of the target goal of 400 suitcases These photographs were an intrinsic part of the project’s exhibitions.
