Activist art seeks to show the humanity of Dreamers

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Artists and proponents of the Dream Act have united to tell the stories of the people brought to the United States as young children and might have to return to their native land as changes are made to the DACA program. Artists are creating projects so people “see Dreamers as people in their community, because a lot of people might not know they are interacting with a Dreamer,” said Sylvia Johnson, a photographer. Johnson, who works for a Santa Fe, N.M.-based organization that supports Dreamers, has photographed many Dreamers as a way to personalize them and their struggle. The term “Dreamer” is used for people who were eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the Dream Act, simultaneously used as symbolism of their hopes to stay in the United States. The Stanlee & Gerald Rubin Center of Visual Arts hosted a panel discussion in September to provide a space to share their stories and current works with immigrants.

How a foreign student taught me not to feel like an outsider in my own city

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I don’t consider myself a social person, especially while I’m in college. I get too focused on school work, and usually meet new people if they are the first ones to come up and talk to me. I was also was self-conscious about people judging me for my English skills. Even though I was born in El Paso, I lived in Juarez, Mexico until fifth grade. And like a lot of others who live on the border, I sometimes felt like I was in an awkward limbo between cultures.