Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The Hart-Celler Act marked a radical break in policy upholding the homogeneity of the United States. It ushered in an influx of immigration over the next few decades from Africa and from Asia. Two of those immigrants included my parents, who journeyed from two different Southeast Asian countries, met in Georgia and had me. While opening up opportunity and hope for some immigrants, the act also made life painful for many Latinx communities who saw more immigration restrictions. This work is both full of hope and full of tension. It depicts three figures of Asian, Black and Latinx descent, defiantly filling the frame, linked through the threads of a tapestry, the fabric of our society. There is growth all around them, but something sinister lurks just out of frame—the racism, xenophobia and white supremacy that shaped the assumptions of the Hart-Celler Act, and continue to shape our society today, sparking our fight for a more just world.
Laura Anderson Barbata. The image from 2065, shows our interconnected lives weaving the future. In 1965 immigrants came to this country and began a life filled with interconnection and hope, and this image reflects the strength, resilience, beauty, and activism of the generations that came after. As one looks at both pieces together they can flip, each referring to the other.
Unifying a thread of past and future.
The fabric of our society, made up of these beautiful communities, as seeds planted by those who came before, growing wildly with freedom.
