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This is intended to be a live, interactive website. We invite you to take part in the conversation and help build this repository by sharing your own experiences as and with newcomers through artwork, essays, reports, photos, short stories, and poetry about refugee life in San Diego.
Diana Calderon
Growth through Resiliency and Resettlement
Digital Collage
Ball Pit
A muted twist on childlike wonder to pay homage to immigrants and refugees within the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
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Urban Connections
Abstract watercolor painting featuring Chicano Park, with the park being depicted in bright colors to represent the heart of the community..
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The Horn of San Diego
This contribution highlights the East African organization UWEAST and its role in my upbringing as a children of immigrant Kenyan parents.
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UCSD and the Refugee Community in San Diego
The separation and unawareness overall UCSD students have with the refugee community in San Diego.
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The Impact of Spreading Refugee Knowledge
This artwork aims to demonstrate the value of the education of refugee life in San Diego and how knowledge is a powerful tool that allows...
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A Beacon of Amal
A tribute to Little Amal's walk across San Diego, and how she brings hope and resilience wherever she goes.
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Platicas & Painting
Platicas & Painting is the title of a project I worked on with my abuelito, a refugee who left everything behind in his small pueblo in...
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Rotary Echo: A Call for Justice
The phone - a call to Justice surrounding the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
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Welcome to San Diego - Refugee Life
San Diego as we know it is perceived different to immigrant individuals who have been detained.
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Mixture of Cultures
This piece intends to highlight the diversity in San Diego by showing that there are multiple different refugee communities residing here.
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Vision of Migrants Detained
Depicting the struggles migrants face when seeking asylum and a re-imagination of the changes that would facilitate migrants to seek asylum.
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Ladder, Flower, & World
focusing on refugee personhood by presenting cheeriness, hope, and perseverance through the symbolism of a flower, a family, and ladder.
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Honoring Carlos Escobar MejÃa
A 2-D Altar collage dedicated to Carlos Ernesto Escobar MejÃa, who passed away in ICE custody in 2020 due to inhumane conditions.
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The Children
Explores how we can use the shared fight to bridge the gaps created by borders, the borders that create refugees, from the river to the sea.
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Waiting for Nothing
The artwork attempts to reflect part of refugees' prolonged struggles, depicted in oil and acrylic paints on canvas.
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Journey to a better life
A collage that depicts a migrants journey through 5 simple photographs.
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The Universal Language
A visual representation of the most culturally significant sport on the planet
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Two Borders
A re-imagination of the San Ysidro Border that facilitates free passage. The inspiration for this work was an image of the San Ysidro...
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Tshe82
A silver-white Toyota Corolla '82 that was a lifeline to my family in resettling in San Diego. My parents' resettlement experience was...
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A Friendly Afternoon in La Cocina de Anita
Experiencing Mexican culture and community through the food and environment of an authentic Mexican restaurant. The inspiration behind my...
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Tolerance Under the Sunset
This painting demonstrates the impact Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy had on family separation in San Diego.
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Detainee Direct Support
Getting in contact with the outside world.
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First Day of Being a Refugee
Artwork based on the real story to aims to raise public awareness about the challenges that refugees encounter, such as the language barrier
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