Immigrant artists depict their experience
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Young immigrant artists are getting some much
needed space in an Upper East Side apartment
building.
Some commercial space at the St. Tropez building
on 340 E. 64th St. has offi cially been transformed
into a new gallery by Chashama, a nonprofi t organization
that fi nds unused real estate for artist gallery
and studio use. City Councilmember Ben Kallos, who
funded all four of the exhibitions scheduled to occupy
the gallery, has allocated a total of $80,000 to the
nonprofi t over the last three years.
The gallery’s fi rst exhibit, “Esperanza de Otro
Mundo Posible (Hope of Another Possible World),”
features the work of two artists who are also DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) recipients.
“My work is a refl ection of my experiences, which
are not singular,” said Maria de los Angeles, who has
60 drawings, a dress, three collages, a wall drawing
and two skateboards on display. De Los Angeles, 30,
immigrated to Santa Rosa, California, from Michoacán,
Mexico, with her family at the age of 11.
De los Angeles, came to New York to study at the
Pratt Institute, where she was considered an international
student because of her status. Student loans
and work study were two tuition-paying options that
were also off the table. Pratt eventually offered de los
Angeles $20,000 in scholarship funds.
“But I had to match my scholarship,” she noted.
And she did, by selling pieces of her work in Santa
Rosa to friends, family and community members,
who, after reading an article about her educational
goals in the local newspaper, wanted her to “achieve
her dream.” After Pratt, de los Angeles earned an
PHOTO BY MARIA DE LOS ANGELES
An artwork by Maria de Los Angeles.
M.F.A. from Yale.
“I think we have to move beyond stereotypes into
a more personal narrative to move beyond hate and
support each other,” she said.
The new gallery provides a physical and metaphorical
space in the art world to dissect the emotional toll
of growing up undocumented
in the U.S. and
how that impacts identity.
Hopefully, through
the artists’ work, viewers
can dissect immigration
policy, as well.
“We hope to use this,
as well as in partnership
with the New York State
Leadership Council,
to bring advocacy and
attention to really the
magic and the brilliance
that our community is
capable of and has been
doing,” said Francisco
Donoso, the second artist
featured in the exhibit.
Donoso, 30, immigrated
to Miami from Quito, Ecuador, and eventually
made his way up to New York when he studied art at
Purchase College, SUNY.
Donoso’s displayed work features abstract paintings
and murals along with a mixed-media installation
of clouds turning into landscapes. This latter
piece symbolizes how life transforms after a person
leaves one home for another.
Although stylistically their work is very different,
both artists’ intent is to challenge xenophobic, racist
and classist notions of what it means to be an undocumented
immigrant.
The way in which the pair are helping DACA recipients
is twofold. Not only are they creating space
within a larger conversation about how undocumented
Americans are perceived, but they have given
space to other fellow artists that have received DACA
status.
“I really want to do my work and inspire others to
do the same,” said de los Angeles.
Three other artists, Odlyis Burgoa, Josselyn
Vasquez and Carlos Vargas, also have pieces exhibited
within the gallery.
For more information about the Chashama exhibits,
visit www.chashama.org. The work of de los Angeles
and Donoso will be up until Thurs., April 18.
PHOTO BY MARIA DE LOS ANGELES
A piece by Maria de Los Angeles in the exhibit
at Chashama on the Upper East Side.
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