Embroidering Hope ~ Retablos of Asylum

After two years of development and COVID setbacks, we are so excited to finally be able to hang this show! On its way to a showing at USC’s School of Religious and Spiritual Studies, the traveling exhibition will be here locally at the Good Shepherd for 5 days only.

The 75 Bordados devocionales / devotional embroideries, created in the shadow of politics and pandemic by asylum-seekers stranded at the U.S.-Mexico Border from 2019 – 2021, tell the story of family migration and displacement through the hands and eyes of the women living it. Each bordado is a testimony of the faith that sustains the maker and the hope they hold close against all odds.

This rare exhibition is an opportunity to bring their stories to our community, to see and feel what is true and sacred to our neighbors. Whether the artisans are embroidering conventional Christian iconography, elements of the natural world infused with Dios-God, or memories of home and family they’ve been forced to leave behind, their devotional retablos rendered in cloth are personal, intimate, and embodied testimonies of faith and resilience.

A team of seven Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders in Tucson – Val, Antonia, Kat, Emily, Jeanie, Martha, and Halsey – collaborated to curate all the moving parts, working intuitively in harmony and solidarity, a testament of community arts and visioning, and to the faith-filled works of the artisans themselves.

We look forward to seeing people in person!

In Border Peace,

Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders