Move Into the Future: A Racial Justice and Abundance Sculpture

Abstract

In the United States, and in particular in the South, elected officials resistant to Black and brown demographic and cultural shifts have sought to destroy or block the histories and cultures of immigrants and minoritized from public discourse. United We Dream, an organization led by immigrant youth, is using public art to center minoritized visionmakers, history weavers, and storytellers whose experiences as immigrants awaken a mindset of abundance, racial justice, and Black and brown liberation in the broader public. Often, the concept of scarcity – that there are not enough resources to go around – undergirds the country’s vast carceral and immigration enforcement systems. United We Dream’s powerful cultural work aims to debunk these falsehoods and show the richness and abundance of communities nationwide.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sheridan Aguirre

Sheridan Aguirre is a screenwriter, producer, and the arts and culture change strategist at United We Dream (UWD). A testament to the leadership pipeline at UWD, Sheri joined the network as a youth organizer for deportation defense and trans/queer liberation campaigns while working as a videographer and theater educator in Austin, Texas. They later led communications strategy on Texas and Florida campaigns and national deportation cases, before going on to spearhead the development of UWD’s culture change strategies, arts programming, and leadership pipeline for immigrant youth artists and writers.

Mer Young

Mer Young is an Indigenous published artist who has created a body of artwork manifested in collages, drawings, and paintings, and she also is the founder of Mausi Murals (https://www.mausimurals.com/), which showcases her public artworks. Through her artworks, she aims to inspire, celebrate, and elevate repressed Indigenous, First Nations, and Native cultures and women of color. Her works also focus on matters of immigration and the uprising to justice, equality, and complete freedom of Black lives.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is an artist based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, working primarily in oil painting, public art, and multimedia installations. She is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, born to a Black mother and Iranian father. Fazlalizadeh’s work is rooted in community engagement and the public sphere. She makes site-specific work that considers how people, particularly women, queer folks, and Black and Brown people, experience race and gender within their surrounding environments, from the sidewalk to retail stores, to the church, to the workplace. She is the creator of Stop Telling Women to Smile (http://www.tlynnfaz.com/Stop-Telling-Women-to-Smile), an international street art series that tackles gender-based street harassment.

Alex Arzú

Alex Arzú is a muralist and tattoo artist based in Houston, Texas, who was born in Germany to Garifuna Honduran immigrants. He enjoys excelling in all forms of artistic expression but finds that art is about the creation itself, not the medium. His goal is to produce art that inspires viewers to have their own unique experience. Arzú, a graduate of the University of Houston and had a four-year stint as an architect before becoming a well-known local artist. He has since worked with influential brands such as Coca-Cola, musician Willie Nelson, the reality show MTV Cribs, and more.