Gerhard Richter, the acclaimed and oft-quoted painter who came of age during Nazi Germany said that “Art is the highest form of Hope.” Sister Lika Macias, Mother Lika to countless asylum seekers on the AZ-Mexico border, says simply “Art is food for the spirit.” In these times and on this border, hope and a resilient spirit are more necessary than ever.
I stayed over at the migrant shelter la Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones in Nogales, Sonora for a few weeks in November as the de facto writer in residence. The morning after the election, I woke to find my suspicions confirmed. Trump had won. What would the people that I had become close to at the shelter think about the fact that a man who explicitly targets them, asylum-seeking families, was now the President-elect of the U.S.A? Families had already been waiting months longer than usual at the shelter to legally petition for asylum.
New and old friends that I met on the grounds were as gracious as always but quiet and subdued. Many residents were frightened and nervous in the days and weeks leading up to the election. Now that the outcome was a reality, people seemed resigned. Families that make it to the shelter are no strangers to extortion, bodily assault, and grinding poverty. What they flee from is much worse than a soon-to-be U.S. president’s threats.
When I wasn’t writing at the computer, I held Mixed-Media Arts workshops for the on-site teachers and older kids at the shelter: designing textiles and cards, drawing and painting, printmaking and embroidery.
Mandalas
Our starting point in each workshop was the Mandala. Mandalas have the power to transform suffering into joy. Mandalas and other Universal sacred symbols are important touchstones in trauma-informed, healing-centered art practices, granting us a shared symbolic language regardless of cultural or religious backgrounds.
The very act of creating gives rise to anticipatory gladness, the blue sky feeling of expansiveness and wide-open possibilities, in other words, Hope. Hope is actionable. It’s process; choosing colors that delight the heart, rolling paint onto fabric, creating symmetry and balance, and mastering tools and materials.
Later, seeing contemplative mandalas and the mandala form in sunflowers hanging up on a line was deeply satisfying. As to the reality of the political situation, tomorrow would be another day. On days filled with Art, beauty and unity rule. In the future, whenever the maker runs their hands over their cloth, they can remember the freedom of their soul’s exploration that day.
Weaving Prayers
Inspired in part by the shelter’s Bordando Esperanza weaving program, a group of friends visiting from the greater Ohio area built a large vertical loom on the property. They invited residents to write their prayers on strips of cloth torn from donations of unused material, and then weave them into a large tapestry of prayers. Jan Alberti who led the group hopes to do more faith-based weaving projects in the future to help knit people and organizations together.
Chicago
In September, three amigas – Sister Lika Macias, Bordadora-Embroiderer Wendy Lopez Aguilar, and me, representing Artisans Beyond Borders, opened the exhibition Bordando Esperanza ~ Embroidering Hope in Chicago. The University of Illinois with Mellon Funding, sponsored the exhibition, which included a devotional embroidery workshop for students and community members at Casa Cultura near the University. In addition to a wonderful opening, we had a day between events to walk Chicago’s famous waterway and see the National Museum of Mexican Art. Mil gracias to the awesome Profesora Barbara Sostaita, from the Latin American and Latino Studies Dept. for coordinating everything. Thank you, Chicago!
In October, we were able to disburse modest grants to asylum seekers Wendy, Mayra, Carla, and Yandè, our former teachers at the shelter, now in the U.S., to help them survive while awaiting asylum and work permits.
Granting Asylum
In November, we rallied around Tucson-based artisans as they endured their harrowing asylum adjudications. We were overcome with joy and relief when, in the space of one month, our principal embroiderer’s family, along with one of our first weaving teachers at the shelter and her children were granted asylum.
Wins are few and far between on the border and friends and advocates celebrated into the night. At one such fiesta, which included three other newcomer families, I realized that a wonderful new network of friends and family had been born. Together, we are creating real community across cultures, and real community equals social justice. Separate us from each other, and you separate all.
Weaving and Embroidery at the shelter
We want to thank supporters Martin Dickenson from Washington D.C. and Mary Sheridan from Tucson for donating funds to Artisans Beyond Borders to cover on-site teacher stipends at the shelter through this Winter and Spring. The Embroidering Hope teachers step forward from the resident population, some with generational weaving skills like Carmen and her Mom from Guatemala, and some with pure can-do like Gabi who coordinates the construction of petite looms for teaching and making woven pulseras-bracelets.
ICE
Now in December, we’ve just learned that ICE has decided to “appeal” the Judge’s decision that granted one of our families asylum last month. So much for building a life in the U.S. without fear. Both parents work all the time since receiving their work permits; cooking, cleaning, and driving cabs while raising two little ones. Our principal embroiderer often works late into the night stitching cloth for extra money and has the calluses on her hands to prove it. In just one year, the family of four has moved from a tiny fifth wheel in a Tucson trailer court to a house, and like so many other young families, immigrant or not, they struggle to pay the $1000/mo rent on the least expensive house they could find. In her “spare” time, our embroiderer takes English classes and goes to business school. I am in awe of her family and many other families like hers throughout the U.S. This is what the American Spirit has always looked like to me. The idea that ICE could rip away this family that we love is beyond reprehensible. It’s a crime against all that is fair and decent in this world.
So, how do we maintain Hope? Networks, faith-based and otherwise, forming across the U.S. to support and protect our neighbors, are key. Our strength is in community. We are all working to raise money for lawyer’s fees and bail funds, which often run into thousands of dollars.
If you read this and want to donate to a Legal Fund for asylum seekers, you can do so directly on the ArtisansBeyondBorders.org website. All future donations will be prioritized to help these families with their legal expenses.
If you send a check, please write the check to Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. On the Memo line at the bottom of your check, write Artisans Beyond Borders (ABB) Migration Fund.
Send your check to:
Grace St. Paul Episcopal Church
2331 E Adams St.
Tucson, AZ 85719
Also, anyone who has donated funds through the ABB website in the last year, or if you decide to donate now to help with legal fees please email Contact@ArtisansBeyondBorders.org with your physical address so we can send you a thank you. We want to thank you in advance for your patience, as we are all volunteers, and sometimes things can get lost in the shuffle.
Volunteers with experience in craft are welcome to join us when we visit the shelter. Email Contact@ArtisansBeyondBorders.org. Spanish is helpful but not mandatory. Art and faith are the Universal languages of choice.
Early on, after the election, writer Annie Lamott wrote, “For now, we show up when we are needed with grit and kindness; we try to help, and we prepare for an end to the despair.”
Make art, stitch, weave, pray and rest. In the years ahead, it will take everything in our creative toolbox to help make it right.
In Border Peace,
V.L. James with Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders, Tucson, AZ 12/24
Gabi keeps the candle lit on the Altar in the craft room ~ en la sala de artesanias where magic happens.
Art & Faith in the Desert 