Llevame Contigo, Quiero Estar Contigo
Take Me With You, I Want To Be With You
Presented at The Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, Wisconsin 2021-2022
In 1996 I wrote a letter to my father who lived and worked in Palms Spring California. At the time I was living in the land that gave me life: Arteaga, Michoacan Mexico. The letter states the following:
"Hola papi,
Te quiero mucho no me has hablado ya no me quieres llévame contigo quiero estar contigo. Mi mami me va a comprar un bebe. Lo voy a querer mucho.
Hi daddy,
I love you so much you haven't called me you don't love me take me with you I want to be with you. My mom is going to buy me a baby. I'm going to love it so much.
-Arleene"
I created the following exhibition using repurposed textiles on canvas to discuss the history of human migration as a way of survival. Millions of migrant people, like my family, travel unfamiliar lands, territories, and nations, often risking their lives in search of the American Dream.
Separated by national borders, families may physically live apart, but through love, they remain united, forming transnational families. The works in this exhibition offer a visual representation of the duality of this existence.
I have carefully drawn lines to show people connected in the light but apart in the dark revealing the contrasts of “visibility” and “invisibility.” When exposed to light, the outline of the adult figures absorbs this energy, symbolizing the fear of family separation and deportation. But in darkness the separation is made visible as the child absorbs the light and becomes a beacon of hope.
The exhibition is experienced in 2:1 min intervals of light and darkness.