I’ve been reexamining “The American Dream” an ideal that encapsulates the sentiment written on the Statue of Liberty, a prominent symbol of immigration. Emma Lazarus has a poem written on the plaque, “Give your tired, your poor huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” I have come to find that this is just an ideal, as historically immigrants have been cast in a negative spotlight in the US. Despite the negative connotation immigration has, through stories and art, I came to learn there is more joy and strength to the immigration experience than we choose to confront.
Yehimi Cambrón is an artist, activist, and public speaker from Michoacan, Mexico who immigrated to Atlanta. She is undocumented and uses her art to showcase the humanity of immigration as well as the intersectionality within it. I had the pleasure of speaking with her in-depth about her work, which is primarily based on bringing immigrant stories to the forefront, She spoke to me about the relationship between joy and resilience in migration.
Q: How long ago did you start painting, and what made you gravitate towards murals?
A: “I’ve always been an artist at heart, I always wanted that creative space. I immigrated in 3rd grade and didn’t know English very well. Art gave me that confidence and space to communicate without speaking. When I graduated, there was no question about what I would study. In college, I actually wasn’t much of a painter. I was more focused on printmaking and drawing. I started a portrait series in my senior year, and they were lithographs. I collected small photos of 100s of people. I wanted to put them on a wall, and from a distance, they would look like dots but when you zoom in you see individual faces.”
I taught after college for Teach for America at Cross Keys High School in 2017 where I graduated from. Yehimi was one of the first two DACA Recipients placed in the program in Georgia. DACA stands for Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals. Those who are granted DACA are often referred to as DACAmented or DACA recipients, but many people also use the term, Dreamer. Dreamer is often used for undocumented young people who would have qualified for the DREAM Act (legislation that has been introduced repeatedly but failed to pass). Both acts have similar requirements so many people who qualify for the DREAM act also qualify for DACA.
“I was interested in doing murals because a non-profit organization- “Living Walls: The City Speaks”, brought high profile artists in from outside my community to paint murals. They were all artists of color. I wanted to be a part of it, but I hadn’t put myself out as an artist yet.”
Living Walls: The City Speaks is a non-profit that “strives to create intentional, thought-provoking public art to inspire social change and activate public spaces.” Yehimi continued to tell me how she spoke to the organization’s founder, Monica Campana. Through that conversation, she was able to paint her first mural, entitled Education is Liberation Monarch, to remind people about “the resilience of immigrants, fight for education and equal access.” The symbol she created was a monarch butterfly with half its wing being an open book, to showcase the intersectionality between immigration and education.
Q: I was seeing in your earlier work you use the monarch butterfly quite a bit, how did you choose this symbol, and what does it mean for you personally?
A: “Through Teach for America, I met other DACA teachers, and I was asked to create a symbol about the intersectionality of education and immigrants. It’s been used by immigration activists, because of how far it travels. I can relate with its resilience and delicate nature. It finds sanctuary in Michoacan, so it literally reminds me of where I was born. Growing up though seeing the monarch portraying immigrants would make me uncomfortable. The portrayal of it seemed like migration was beautiful when in reality migration is necessary. It can’t sugarcoat what it means to be an immigrant. I wanted to make the butterfly my own, and I didn’t want to sugarcoat the immigrant experience.
She was one of eleven artists chosen by Off The Wall: Atlanta’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Journey. The public art exhibition was leading up to the Super Bowl that was hosted in Atlanta that year. The publicity had garnered massive recognition of her murals. “I had these massive walls to showcase the stories of immigrants. I was commissioned to create three murals for this project…My work started to gain national and international recognition because the Wall project.” After this project, she received a grant from Living Walls in 2019 and created the mural, Monuments: Our Immigrant Mothers. Monuments was named the Best Mural in Atlanta by the critics of Creative Loafing in 2019.
Yehimi’s work through time proves to speak volumes in its simplicity. Monuments: Our Immigrant Mothers, showcases three large portraits of 3 different immigrant women: An Asian immigrant, A Black immigrant, and a Mexican immigrant. Without speaking to her when I saw this, I immediately recognized and grew to appreciate how the intersection of the immigrant experience was showcased. Migration is not an experience to be grouped together as a monolith. Yehimi’s most recent piece, Monuments: Faces of Atlanta’s Immigrants, painted on The Home Depot Backyard Mercedes Benz Stadium, continues to bring intersectionality to the forefront.
Q: What was your process in mapping out faces for your Monuments: Faces of Atlanta’s Immigrants?
“I was actively looking for non- Latinx immigrants. I asked around to find people. I had a dialogue with people who were comfortable putting themselves and their stories out there. It really depends on the theme of each mural to decide who needs to be included. When I am selecting a wall, I want to feel a little scared, I want to say, how the hell do I paint this? I want to challenge myself. We have to learn how to say yes to opportunities in order to grow even when we feel intimidated. I can’t let fear immobilize me.”
A turning point in the conversation began when she went in-depth to explain her intent behind titling the pieces as “monuments”. I found her response to be incredibly thought-provoking,
“My work is asserting the immigrant space. Migration has always been criminalized. There is intersection and diversity in this community in Atlanta. Migration is also a black issue and must be talked about. These were some of the biggest portraits I’d done, and I call them monuments because they deserve to be. Immigrants have always been essential to this country’s fabric. People are starting to question and take down what are considered to be monuments, which were predominantly of white men who were colonizers, slave owners, confederate figures, and or known White supremacists.
With my pieces, I’m able to juxtapose my monuments, the ones I am creating with my murals, with those that symbolize hate, colonialism, and the genocide that was Slavery in America. My work is asserting the immigrant identity. There is intersection and diversity in this community in Atlanta and around the country. Migration is also an experience that belongs to other communities outside of the Mexican, Latinx, or Brown experience. The portraits in my murals are the biggest portraits I have ever painted or seen of immigrants, and I call them monuments because they deserve to be. Immigrants have always been essential to this country’s fabric.”
Q: What has been your biggest challenge as someone who is undocumented, but is also an artist?
A: “Being an artist makes living undocumented more bearable. I am able to express my lived experience in my work. The challenge is especially in the South, people are often uncomfortable with what I want to say in confronting these issues. They want the colors, symbols, and pretty stuff but not the truth. Since I’m also a public speaker, and an activist when I start speaking about the issues related to the murals, people get uncomfortable and would limit what I want to say. It’s powerful because I still want to bring truth to the public, there’s power in knowing people are uncomfortable. There’s power that I can talk about these issues through my work.”
Yehimi Cambrón is unstoppable with her storytelling capacity whether through murals, teaching, or public speaking. The intersectionality across migration serves as a reminder that migration is after all a human experience, one we should always empathize with. By consistently creating space for immigrants, it is a constant reminder that immigrants built this country, and will continue to contribute. Her work continues to expand and 2020 marks the first year she went full time as an artist. She plans for her work to move beyond Atlanta to a national level, and is currently writing a book about her work. Yehimi Cambron recently launched her website showcasing her work and has launched an online shop.
