No Place Like Home
A collection of works by artists reflecting on Honduran voices seeking asylum and amnesty in the United States.
A Project of the Elisabeth Jones Art Center’s Collaborative Painting Group in cooperation with the ENCYCLICAL EXHIBITION
EJAC CoLAB Participants: Angela Saenz,
Ben Anderson, Diego Morales-Portillo, Essie Somma,
Ila Rose, Jessica Lynn Clark, Joanne Kollman,
John Teply, Laura Medina, Mark Dugally, Schel Harris.
Project Concept & Director of Painting, John Teply
with video installation by Laura Medina
50% of all sales benefit: Border Angels
A collection of works by artists reflecting on Honduran voices seeking asylum and amnesty in the United States.
A Project of the Elisabeth Jones Art Center’s Collaborative Painting Group in cooperation with the ENCYCLICAL EXHIBITION
EJAC CoLAB Participants: Angela Saenz,
Ben Anderson, Diego Morales-Portillo, Essie Somma,
Ila Rose, Jessica Lynn Clark, Joanne Kollman,
John Teply, Laura Medina, Mark Dugally, Schel Harris.
Project Concept & Director of Painting, John Teply
with video installation by Laura Medina
50% of all sales benefit: Border Angels
THE PROCESS
1) The interviews were all done on location. Jose Pedro Martinez, Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, and Alejandro Martinez Lopez, went into the Amnesty Caravan’s Camps and interviewed several people from Honduras.
5) Because of the nature of the situation, we were unable to return and clarify the information from the interviews. We couldn’t reconnect with them. There was always a state of flux as people moved about in search of water, food, and the daily essentials.
6) The amnesty seekers essentially left with the clothes on their backs. Their survival of their 1500 mile journey depended on the kindness of strangers. They couldn’t pay money for anything. Such things as computers, cell phones, and tracfones, were not part of the material goods they possessed, nor, if they did have them, could they afford the fees to use them. This is applicable to both the caravan journey as well as to their home life in Honduras.
7) There’s a sense of home that transcends individuality and cultural differences. We were working at discovering what that was for these Amnesty Seekers as much as anything.
8) Though there may be people culturally who could give better authority to these voices, we are not taking the position that we are giving the interviewed Hondurans a definitive voice reflecting their culture. These paintings reflect more of what the individual artists imagined the situations to be like rather than any concrete personal knowledge.
9) Whatever imperfections we have in the process it’s better that there’s open discussion, money raised through the sale of the work and a communication about the humanity of the Caravan that far outweighs any flaws in the process.
1) The interviews were all done on location. Jose Pedro Martinez, Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, and Alejandro Martinez Lopez, went into the Amnesty Caravan’s Camps and interviewed several people from Honduras.
- 2) These interviews were translated by people of Hispanic heritage who live in Portland.
- 3) Artists from the Elisabeth Jones CoLAB listened to the translations and from that found inspiration to create these paintings. The paintings are imaginative recreations based on the words of the caravan members.
5) Because of the nature of the situation, we were unable to return and clarify the information from the interviews. We couldn’t reconnect with them. There was always a state of flux as people moved about in search of water, food, and the daily essentials.
6) The amnesty seekers essentially left with the clothes on their backs. Their survival of their 1500 mile journey depended on the kindness of strangers. They couldn’t pay money for anything. Such things as computers, cell phones, and tracfones, were not part of the material goods they possessed, nor, if they did have them, could they afford the fees to use them. This is applicable to both the caravan journey as well as to their home life in Honduras.
7) There’s a sense of home that transcends individuality and cultural differences. We were working at discovering what that was for these Amnesty Seekers as much as anything.
8) Though there may be people culturally who could give better authority to these voices, we are not taking the position that we are giving the interviewed Hondurans a definitive voice reflecting their culture. These paintings reflect more of what the individual artists imagined the situations to be like rather than any concrete personal knowledge.
9) Whatever imperfections we have in the process it’s better that there’s open discussion, money raised through the sale of the work and a communication about the humanity of the Caravan that far outweighs any flaws in the process.
Border Angels -
“Border Angels (also known as Angeles De La Frontera) is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit charitable organization that is focused on migrant rights, immigration reform, and the prevention of immigrant deaths along the border. Border Angels, along with its more than 2000 volunteers serves San Diego County’s immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs such as day laborer outreach and legal assistance, and provides life-saving assistance for migrants by placing bottled water in remote mountain and desert border regions of the San Diego and Imperial counties, California.”
“Border Angels (also known as Angeles De La Frontera) is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit charitable organization that is focused on migrant rights, immigration reform, and the prevention of immigrant deaths along the border. Border Angels, along with its more than 2000 volunteers serves San Diego County’s immigrant population through various migrant outreach programs such as day laborer outreach and legal assistance, and provides life-saving assistance for migrants by placing bottled water in remote mountain and desert border regions of the San Diego and Imperial counties, California.”
