Janet Goldner

*************** Artist, Interculturalist, Consultant ************* Janet Goldner bridges diverse cultures. Celebrating the unique beauty & genius of each as well as what we have in common.

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Fences 2 minute exerpt.mov from Janet Goldner on Vimeo.

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Moroccan Man.mov from Janet Goldner on Vimeo.

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#lintianmiao #sewing #art #guggenheimmuseum #videoprojection (at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum)

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Hommage 2016 - Kandioura's Grave from Janet Goldner on Vimeo.

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KAWRAL: Malian Visual Artists contribute to Mali’s REVIVAL

I am pleased to announce the publication of the catalogue for KAWRAL: Malian Visual Artists contribute to Mali’s REVIVAL, the artists' residency I directed in Mali in 2014. It would be great to have this work and these artists seen in the US and the rest of the world.

You can see the entire catalogue here:http://www.janetgoldner.com/projects/kawral/

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Janet Goldner Bio

As an undergraduate, Janet Goldner participated in an Experiment in International Living program to Ghana and traveled in West Africa for the rest of the year. She is a graduate of Antioch College (BA) and New York University (MA).  Janet received a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship and two Fulbright Senior Specialist grants as well as grants from the Ford Foundation and from the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid. 

Janet's many community projects internationally and in the US include participation with diverse groups of  artists and non-artists.  Her work in the US and internationally includes cultural, educational and women's empowerment projects as well as commissions, exhibitions, collaborations, residencies, community art projects, public art projects. 

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The border in the Tohono O'odham Reservation

Caroline Felicity Antoine, Ophelia Rivas, Roy in front of Ophelia's garden

On my last day in AZ, I traveled to the Tohono O'odham reservation for a very different perspective of the border. No fence to the sky here in this remote location. A dirt road marks the line between Mexico and the US. And the ever present US Border Patrol.

O'odham people have lived in this area since the beginning of time, on both sides of what is now the border. Burial grounds, ceremonial routes, ceremonies and other aspects of life have been disrupted.

Human rights activist, Ophelia Rivas, lives in the last house on the US side of the border. Two days before my visit, Ophelia saw 2 men with machine guns and camouflage uniforms walk across her yard- drug trafficker. Why didn't the Border Patrol stop them? Isn't that their job?

A few days earlier, they awakened another Menegersdam woman in the middle of the night guns drawn because they saw footsteps going to one of her windows. It was only her grand-daughter's boyfriend trying to pay a visit.

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A young woman from Honduras

Our delegation happened to meet this young woman in Nogales, Sonora. She fled her home in Honduras after her husband and three year old daughter were killed by the drug cartel, which people call the mafia. She traveled the 2,500 miles north by herself on the trains and was nearly raped outside of Nogales.

Our delegation, American citizens and Mexicans in the US legally, had driven from Tucson that day and would return soon. She asked if we could take her in our car. But of course we couldn't. The border control is full of cameras, dogs, etc. About 20 miles into the US there is a second checkpoint.

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There are many dedicated activists

There are many dedicated activists working on the migration crisis-the building that houses the Alliance for Global Justice, Catholic Workers, the member's of the Tucson Immigrant Task Force.

  Catholic Workers house. They feed the hungry without asking questions or for papers.

Tucson Immigrant Task Force report on the working conditions of migrant women.

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Behind the Scenes

Children who have crossed into the US and who have relatives in the US are sent to their relatives by bus. The station was the site of anti-immigration demos. Now the children are held at a facility on a military base and brought here in time to catch their buses. Catholic Community Services provides them with food, toiletries, etc for the voyage.

The 2nd photo is a facility where children are held. It was built as University dormitory space. It seems to be privately run with heavy security. We were not able to go inside.

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Dreamers

Josue Saldivar came to Tucson from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico when he was 8 years old. He started school in the U.S. in the third grade not speaking any English and didn't realize he was in the country illegally until he was a senior in high school and started to apply for scholarships to go to college.

"Before that I thought I could accomplish what anyone else could," he said.

Saldivar, 22 was approved for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in 2012. Providing so much information about his family on the application worried him, particularly about his parents. Saldivar had everything he needed to submit his application the moment the government started to accept them, but he lacked the fee. He had to wait several months until an acquaintance offered to cover it. He has a 17-year-old sister eligible for the program, but the family can't pay for it. For his family, he said, it's deciding between paying rent or the application fee.

DACA offers a two-year, renewable reprieve from deportation to unauthorized immigrants who are under the age of 31; entered the United States before age 16; have lived continuously in the country for at least five years; have not been convicted of a felony, a “significant” misdemeanor, or three other misdemeanors; and are currently in school, graduated from high school, earned a GED, or served in the military. Immigrants who meet these criteria are commonly referred to as “DREAMers” because they comprise most (though not all) of the individuals who meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

"At least now I can work legally," he said from a trailer home he shared with his family until they moved last year to New Mexico - in search of a state with less restrictive immigration laws.

Saldivar earned an associate's degree in business administration from Pima Community College in May and is looking for a job to help support his family before enrolling at a university to continue his education. Saldivar said he hasn't been able to find a job in part because he relies on public transportation.

"I've had to decline interviews because of the time it would take me to just get there," he said. Still, he stays in Arizona because Tucson is his home.

Over the years, he said he's thought of the day he would be able to work and relieve some of the pressure from his father.

"But I also thought of the day I became a legal permanent resident. I thought of the day I became a citizen," he said.

The two years of the first two year approval are about up and Dreamers will have to reapply. More uncertainty about what will happen now.

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Safe Park Dream Center

Another aspect of the complex border/migrant issue is homelessness and the intertwining of poverty, migrants, refugees. Tucson's Safe Park Dream Center is a solution in process. An outgrowth of Occupy Tucson, safe sleeping places for homeless people and storage of their belongings are under construction, built by the the users themselves with repurposed materials. Artists help with the design and soon to come murals and flags.

Jon McLane, one of the founders of Safe Park Dream Center, standing at the door of his cabin. 

Anthony Potter is one of the founders of Safe Park Dream Center.

Sleeping pods made of found materials . Homeless people can store their belongings in the locked compartment at the back and sleep in the part behind the striped curtain. There are plans for 100 pods.

Entrance to the current site of Safe Park Dream Center with pods and cabins.

Safe Park Dream Center is located behind the church. They will later expand into the parking lot.

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4- Do you understand your right to a trial? All said “si” down the line.

5- Are you a US citizen? All said “no” down the line.

6- How do you plead? “culpable” (guilty) down the line.

7- Is there any reason the court should not accept this plea? No down the line except a few cases when the lawyer interjected that the person speaks another (Indian) language but understands. Is this true the judge asks? Si, they say.

Then they are sentenced to between 30 and 180 days with credit for time served. Then they shuffle out thru a door in the courtroom and the next panel of 10 takes their place before the judge.

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Their names were read and were asked a series of questions. One after the other they answered down the line.

Sometime in the last 10 days you entered the US without being examined by border control.

1- Do you understand the charges and penalties? All 10 said “si” translated to “yes” by the translator-one after the other down the line.

2- Do you understand the terms of the plea agreement and waive your right to appeal? All said “si” translated to “yes” by the translator- down the line.

3- Other than what is in the plea agreement, have any promises been made to you or are you being forced to plea? All said “no” down the line.

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Operation Streamline

I visited the court in Tucson to witness the Operation Streamline proceedings. I couldn’t take my camera into the building.

One side of the court room was full of brown people, mostly men, a few women. They were called to the front in groups of 10. Their hands and feet were shackled. They stood in a line with their lawyers behind them.

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The trip to and from the Mexico/US border is rife with dangers.

People make the trip fleeing violence from the drug cartels, looking for employment or to join family. Some migrants walk for days in the hot desert landscape. It is impossible to carry enough water for several days journey by foot.

A map published by No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes of the route between Nogales and Tucson. The red dots indicate where people have died. The concentric circles show how many days walk to cover the distance.

Desert landscape. Even walking a short distance to take this photograph, I got a few thorns in my shoes and feet. 

Bird in a thorn tree.

The beauty of the cactus in bloom.

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A cemetery in Nogales

Near the Kino Border Initiative and in the shadow of the border fence is a large cemetery. Sometimes migrants sleep in the cemetery since no one bothers them there.

Not far beyond the cemetery is a Mexican government border station where migrants can make a phone call to let their relatives know where they are, take a shower, and the Red Cross where they can get medical help.