My artwork, Bringing Life, Bringing Joy, is meant to be a celebration of the refugee community in San Diego. One of the most impactful pieces of knowledge I gained when learning about refugees in San Diego was acknowledging refugees as producers of knowledge. I learned that we should be thinking of refugees beyond the “problem” of their existence and celebrate the lessons they will bring to us and the contribution that they give to society. Often in the media, we see refugees in vulnerable positions, crying, and in pain. We hear the media talking about the “refugee crisis” or the “refugee problem.” This method of thinking implies that they are a burden to us and that we should pity them. To combat that, I wanted to create a piece of art that illustrates joy and the contributions refugees make to our society in the United States and San Diego.
In the front and center of my piece, I included a group of five refugees from various communities. Although it does not state where they are from, I wanted to include refugees or children of refugees from various countries or regions. For example, I wanted to highlight Vietnamese, Arab, African, Central American, and Mexican people. However, I wanted anybody to view this art and see themselves or perhaps a family member in the faces of the people. Among the yellow background, I wanted to make the people vibrant and choose bright colors for their clothes. I intentionally left everything else uncolored or less vibrant to draw attention to the subjects of the drawing. However, I did want to color in elements of things scattered around the piece to celebrate elements of culture. For example, although not immediately noticeable, the food on the table is all colored in. I wanted to highlight various types of cuisine, such as white rice, curries, pho, banh mi, tamales, stuffed grape leaves, and saffron rice and chicken. This sharing of cuisine among others is a beautiful part of the cultural exchange that refugees bring to our community. In addition, I wanted to highlight that many refugees make a living from selling their cuisine by starting businesses and restaurants. In the background, I created a neighborhood meant to represent common types of businesses that refugees may start. I have restaurants, stores, international markets, income tax locations, family clinics, and printing companies. These are businesses I find in my neighborhood, but especially among other refugee communities. These businesses cater to their community and offer services in their language. When walking around these neighborhoods, you will notice that signs are written in both English and another language.
Finally, I wanted to highlight the hard work and small business in the form of street vending that I often find in these communities. For example, I included buckets of flowers that vendors sell at the side of the road and off of freeway exits. In addition, I wanted to include a fruit stand with the easily distinguishable rainbow umbrella that you can find in many immigrant and refugee communities. These were important elements to include because it shows the tenacity of immigrants and refugees. Finally, my sketched community is located in San Diego, in which you can find the ocean and city skyline in the background. My drawing was created on the digital software ProCreate. I wanted my art to look like it was sketched using pencils and colored pencils on textured paper, so I chose brushes and tools to achieve this effect. I primarily used the pencil setting for sketching and coloring. In addition, I used references that I found online. Every aspect of this piece is intentional and I placed things very carefully. Overall, I wanted to highlight the life and vibrancy that refugees and immigrant communities bring to our world.San Diego
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