Carlos Motta
“The sentence "Estoy aquí: sobreviviré" invites us to recognize the conditions of immigration detention in the United States and to resist society's neglect of the plight of migrants who are detained. While the U.S. federal government has instituted poor measures to hold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) accountable for the range of human rights violations that occur in detention centers, detained immigrants remind us of their strength to overcome and survive the cruel and inhumane treatment they endure. "Estoy aquí" references Shakira's song of the same name, and "Sobreviviré," Mexican pop star Monica Naranjo's hit. —Felipe Baeza and Carlos Motta”
BIO
Carlos Motta (b. 1978, Colombia) has a multi-disciplinary art practice that documents the social conditions and political struggles of sexual, gender, and ethnic minority communities in order to challenge dominant and normative discourses through visibility and self-representation. As a historian of untold narratives and an archivist of repressed histories, Motta is committed to in-depth research on the struggles of post-colonial subjects and societies. His work manifests in a variety of mediums including video, installation, sculpture, drawing, web-based projects, performance, and symposia.
OWN WORDS
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