Living in the Shadows: Underground Immigrant Communities

New Brunswick, NJ – The Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities (CWAH) is pleased to announce a multi-disciplinary creative inquiry into the circumstances and debate over irregular migration, and hidden and undocumented immigrant communities entitled Living in the Shadows: Underground Immigrant Communities that includes a group exhibition, artists discussion, and film screenings.

The artists selected for the group exhibit Living in the Shadows: Underground Immigrant Communities, in the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Galleries, participated in CWAH’s open call in spring 2016. The open call was blind juried by four arts and academic professionals: Anonda Bell, Curator/Director, Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers-Newark; Ulla Berg, Associate Professor of Latino and Caribbean Studies and Anthropology, and Director, Center for Latin American Studies, Rutgers-New Brunswick; Leah DeVun, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers New Brunswick; and Martin Rosenberg, Professor of Art History, Rutgers-Camden.

Although invisible to the state, hidden and undocumented immigrant populations directly impact the economic and social structure of the communities in which they have settled. Despite creating underground cultures and networks of commerce and lending, immigration, and housing, these populations remain the most marginal and vulnerable groups in NJ and elsewhere in the nation. The works in this exhibition address a range of issues relating to human rights and religious freedom, and ultimately seek to underscore everyone’s shared desire to have a more prosperous life, for their children to be safe, and to have sanctuary. Pam Cooper’s piece speaks to the issue of children from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras who are placed into shelters while awaiting deportation hearings. Sandra C. Fernandez reflects on issues related to migration across the US border, exploring the phenomenological aesthetics of undocumented immigrants. CERRUCHA’s audiovisual installation focuses on refugee and undocumented adult immigrants currently residing in Montreal and Mexico City. Cynthia Tom’s work explores the tragedy of human trafficking through the experiences of her own Chinese American family. Lauren Everett’s photographs of LA botanicas and practioners of religions like Santa Muerte and Santeria open up discussions about these misunderstood religions. Gesche Wϋrfel documents how Northern Manhattan immigrant superintendents decorate the basements of apartment buildings, where they often live, illuminating the process of immigrant adaptation to the metropolis from an intimate perspective.

The group exhibit will be on view in the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Galleries in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, Rutgers University (8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901) from January 17 - April 7, 2017. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9am - 10pm. There will be a reception in honor of the artists at 5pm and an artists discussion on Wednesday, March 1st from 5:30 - 6:30pm in the Mabel Smith Douglass Room at Douglass Library.

The film screenings of the 2016 Peabody award winning film, Don’t Tell Anyone (No le Digas a Nadie) will take place during the spring semester. Don’t Tell Anyone (No le Digas a Nadie) features Angy Rivera, a 24 year-old who steps out of the shadows to share her parallel journey of being undocumented and sexually abused, emerging as an activist, blogger, and advice columnist for other young people in her situation (AskAngy). Film screenings will take place on Wednesday, March 22nd at 4pm in the Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers-Newark; on March 30th at 7pm in the Kathleen W. Ludwig Global Village Living Learning Center, DRC, Rutgers-New Brunswick (this screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Mikaela Shwer and Angy Rivera); and on April 25th at 6pm in the New Brunswick Free Public Library.

The exhibition and events are free and open to public. Further information about the exhibition, events, accessibility, and parking can be found at cwah.rutgers.edu. RSVP requested but not required for the events: womenart@rci.rutgers.edu. To accompany the exhibition, CWAH will publish a comprehensive online catalog with an essay in spring of 2017.

CWAH is a university-wide unit reporting to the Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives under the auspices of the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and a consortium member of the Institute for Women's Leadership, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series is a program of CWAH in partnership with Rutgers University Libraries (RUL).The exhibition and events are funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Co-sponsors: Art Library-RUL; Center for Latin American Studies; Center for Latino Arts and Culture (CLAC); Center on Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC); Centers for Global Advancement and International Affairs (GAIA); Department of Art History; Department of Visual Arts-Mason Gross School of the Arts; Global Village-Douglass Residential College; Institute for Research on Women (IRW); Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL); Margery Somers Foster Center-RUL; New Brunswick Free Public Library; Office of Diversity and Inclusion; Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers-Newark; Rutgers Child Advocacy Clinic, Rutgers Law School-Newark; UndocuRutgers.