Intersecting Realities: Visions of Immigrant Narratives

Save the date for June 18th 6 p.m. for what will be one of many art shows that looks at the Dream Act movement from the point of view of the individuals who make it up. This is a show that has been a long time in the making and through a collective effort of individuals and artist, a space has been created in which the movement will be seen a little differently that the normal political context. Seen the way we see it ourselves everyday going to work, school, being activist, artist, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons ... human beings making the best of what was given to us.People see us as the students, dreamers, activist and youth, but rarely do those same people get to see the other sides of our lives outside of these spaces. Truly, a persons personally is like a kaleidoscope, perpetually changing, sometimes too fast to notice. 

From the event organizers: Please Join us for "Intersecting Realities:Visions of Immigrant Narrative," Art Exhibit on Saturday June 18, 2011. We will be showing the works of Pocho1, Im;Arte and Julio Salgado. We will also be unveiling of the DREAM Mural and premiering the latest video from Dreamers Adrift. Janet Gonzalez, Jesus Iniguez, Mariella Saba and Erick Huerta will be sharing spoken word/poetry. Food and drinks will be provided for the evening.

"Dream Visualized" Images by Pocho1 This project was inspired by the life of Cinthya Felix and Tam Tran, one of our great women Dream Act leaders who passed away last May. Tam was an activist, film maker and scholar. Tam was also a loving sister, friend and daughter. Like many undocumented students, Tam had different identities that many people don’t see.Through this project we plan to capture these different identities, in order to put a human face on the immigration story. In this project, we will follow seven Dream students throughout their entire day. We want to capture them with their families, friends, at school, at work, and in their communities.
International photographer Pocho-1 documents political and cultural movements. He began fighting for the interests of his community while furthering his education at Cal State Northridge. Studying under Rudy Acuna, founder of the first Xican@ studies department. Moving back to the Bay Area, he attended San Francisco State University earning a MA in Ethnic Studies. He is presently pursuing his 2nd Masters at USC Rossier School of Education.

Im:arte was created by a collaboration of artist that believed deeply in something bigger than themselves, “a social movement powered by creativity and imagination.” Carol Belisa (Mocabel), Laura Flores, Leticia Hernandez, Omar Ramirez, Ray Hernandez (Aryer), and Victor Zuniga worked diligently to launch Im:Arte Collective, their works will be on display.

Julio Salgado is the creator of the online comic strip "Liberty For All," which follows the life of a young undocumented college graduate named Liberty. His activist artwork has become a staple of the DREAM Act  movement. College students across the country have used Salgado's artwork to call attention to the DREAM Act. His work has been praised by OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano, KPCC-FM 89.3's Multi-American blog and the influential journal ColorLines. Salgado is a recent California State University, Long Beach graduate with a BA in journalism. To see more of his artwork and other collaborations, you can go to DreamersAdrift and his tumblr page.