Viva Ruiz
“My mother and aunt both came from Ecuador to the U.S for work, for their family, for a better life. It was their core sentiment that we are conveying here, after we watched the courageous video of the women calling for help. If you haven't seen it, please watch now. (link to be placed here)
How can people be punished for seeking asylum?
They like my own family came for that "American dream". These people incarcerated, tortured and separated from their family were only guilty of believing in those ideals, and they were betrayed. See them now, hear their words now, and do something anything and everything to help them.
They must be free and ICE with all its terrorism must be dismantled. Now.”
BIO
Viva Ruiz is the daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, a Queens native, and an artist for whom showing in a gallery is the exception rather than the norm. For the last two decades, she has forged a collaborative practice in and around institutions, gracing nightclubs, telenovelas, and online spaces as equally vital forms of engagement. Most recently, her ongoing project Thank God for Abortion (TGFA) (2015 – ) appeared as a float in the 2018 New York Pride March, mobilizing a crew of dancers, activists, and performers to advocate for free, safe, and legal abortion. Ruiz’s work inhabits rich social worlds outside of the gallery, and it is a challenge to preserve their vitality inside of it. Viva's car rental so she could get to her site was provided by shoutyourabortion.com: THANK YOU!!!!!!
OWN WORDS
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