A new art exhibition opening at the atrium of the main building of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in Washington, D.C., offers a window into the human dimension of migration both within and outside the region. “Far from Home: the Migration Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean” opens June 9 with a seminar on the social impact of migration on education, health, women and labor.
The exhibition and seminar are being jointly organized by the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), the Cultural Center (EXR/IMG/CUL), and the Social Sector Department. The events mark the beginning of a new initiative by the MIF and the Social Sector Department to address the human, labor market and social dimensions of migration in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“For several years, we have worked both to raise awareness about remittance flows, the portion of migrant workers’ earnings sent back home, and to provide migrants and their families with more financial options. We are very pleased to be a part of the IDB’s efforts to help broaden the perspective on migration in the region,” said Don Terry, the MIF’s general manager.
“Migration, if brought out of the shadows, can be better managed to the mutual benefit of destination countries and countries of origin. The new initiative will focus on policy-based research and pilot projects for innovations in human capital and economic development programs,” explained Terry.
Artists from all over the region, many of them living in the United States and Europe, submitted works in one of the biggest responses to date to a call for art proposals issued by the Cultural Center. Eleven artists (three of them in a team) from Argentina, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Uruguay were selected for the exhibition.
Through the hearts and hands of the region’s artists, migration can be seen in its multiple forms – the uncertainty of departure as well as the uncertainty of return, the toil of work in the shadows, the perilous journey. One artwork can shatter many stereotypes. The artworks give a glimpse into the lives of migrants and the new forms in migration in the region, to new countries of destination such as Spain and Japan, as well as between countries in the region – Bolivians to Argentina, Guatemalans to Mexico, Salvadorians and Peruvians to Chile.
“The response of the region’s artists to this exhibit has been tremendous,” explains Felix Angel, IDB Cultural Center director. “The exhibit demonstrates – just from the demographic aspect alone, that there is a long and recurrent history of migration into and outside the region. The phenomenon in the Americas was constant during the colonial period, and expanded at the end of the 19th century with the arrival of Europeans and Asians to many parts of the hemisphere, as illustrated, for instance, by the work of Uruguayan artist Andrea Gelsi Castillo.
“The 20th century witnessed many migration waves, among them, Japanese to Brazil in 1908 Spaniards fleeing the Civil War in the late 1930s who arrived in Mexico and other countries, Cubans in the 1960s and Salvadorians moving to the United States in the 1980s, as represented in the works of Luisa Mesa and Nicolas Shi, respectively.More recently, Ecuadoreans and Colombians have been migrating to Spain, but they are just one example of the phenomenon, which is not circumscribed of course to the New World.
“The 21st century is just beginning and no one can deny the cultural impact of migration–aside from its economic impact--on the peoples of the Caribbean, Southern Cone, Mexico and Central America, as well as in countries such as the United States, Canada, Western Europe and even Japan. From the artistic viewpoint, the exhibit is indeed a cause for celebration, a triumph of the creative spirit that does not give up even in the most of adverse circumstances.”
The movement of workers across national borders affects social and labor market development in both sending and receiving countries, trends which are only beginning to be understood. The June 9 seminar on will examine its myriad social and labor impacts by looking at distinct national contexts: Ecuadorians in Spain, Mexicans remaining in Mexico and the schooling of children in El Salvador. Speakers include: Alejandra Cox Edwards (University of California), Caroline Moser (University of Manchester), Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva (UNDP, New York), and Andrew Morrison (World Bank). The discussion will be moderated by Kei Kawabata, manager of the Social Sector Department. The seminar will also include microdocumentaries on migration from the IDB’s 2008 Economic and Social Progress Report on social exclusion.
The exhibit will be open to the public the week of June 9-13 during regular business hours. A catalogue reproducing all the selected works and the artists’ biographies will be published for the occasion.