Artist: Aram Han Sifuentes, in collaboration with Cavon, Xin, MJ, Gideon, Linda, Cha, Jin, Vivian, Hendon, Audrey, Maya, Elena, Yunfei, Sarah, Carolina, Younghye Han
Curator: Jameson Paige
Teaching Artists: Sarah Kolker and Carolina Gomez
Design: Bun Stout
Partners: SEAMAAC, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Friends of the Rail Park, and Friends of Mifflin Square Park
Throughout the summer of 2021, Aram Han Sifuentes worked with high school youth in the Mural Arts Education program on Messages to Our Neighbors, a project exploring the intersection of citizenship, immigration, and belonging. Sifuentes’ art practice sits at the intersection of fiber, social practice, performance, and pedagogy. She creates socially engaged and materially rich projects that are accessible to those who are disenfranchised, particularly dispossessed immigrants of color. Messages to Our Neighbors included protest banner making that uplifted young people’s concerns, which were translated into almost 30 billboards across Philadelphia. Afterwards, young people created citizenship test samplers, which highlight the arduous process of becoming a U.S. citizen.
Sifuentes’ collaboration with Mural Arts youth resulted in a powerful banner and billboard series. Each banner consists of short phrases and slogans that highlight young people’s experiences of immigration and their aspirations for the world. Banners were temporarily installed at the Rail Park, blocks away from students’ summer classroom, and were translated into billboards that were spread throughout the city to amplify the voices of immigrants who often go unheard during the month of October in 2021.
