Mar 14, 2020
Julio Salgado
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Gay/queer
DOB: 1 September 1983
Ethnicity: Mexican
Occupation: Artist, activist
seen from Spain
seen from Mexico
seen from Mexico
seen from Russia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Mexico
seen from Canada
seen from Italy
seen from Netherlands
seen from Mexico
seen from China
seen from Mexico
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Yemen
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
Julio Salgado
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Gay/queer
DOB: 1 September 1983
Ethnicity: Mexican
Occupation: Artist, activist
A Response to JR’s “Conflict Zone” US/Mexico Border Installation (Oct. 26, 2017)
Undocumented artists have been invisibilized by the art world and the immigrant rights movement. They have been seen as “unprofessional” for not having MFAs; for being poor and not having the money to quit their jobs and live as “starving artists”; and for being disabled.
However, the immigrant rights movement has also dismissed artists. I have experienced immigrant organizers think of artists at last minute: when a poster is needed, when coding needs to be done, when a dj cancels on an event, etc. Undocumented artists have been invisibilized at multiple fronts: both inside and outside our communities.
When JR installed his piece at the border, I saw undocumented immigrants and art organizations widely share his piece.
I was conflicted.
Although the piece took me back to my crossing, I couldn’t find a convincing statement from the artist.
I urge us to ask: who gets to make art out of experiences of the marginalized? Who is allowed to construct narratives?
I say all this because I cannot look at JR’s work and feel sincerity from him; I cannot and do not trust him. Part of his bio and artist statement express a commitment to making art that identifies and addresses “conflict zones.” At first glance, this form of art-making has the potential to provide a liberatory art praxis. Some might call it “radical.” But, at the expense of whom?
Who must JR walk over to rise?
My Tumblr experience so far, reflected by the great @juliosalgado83 posted on IG here.
Life as an undocumented queer immigrant is difficult, but Julio Salgado has found that the arts practices he honed in school has helped him combat depression, negativity and stress. He eventually went on to use that creativity to uplift the voices of millions of people just like him.
Artist Julio Salgado couldn't believe the news when it happened. It was May of 2010 and five persons dressed in graduation gowns walked into the office of the late Senator John McCain, sat on the floor and refused to move. Tania Unzueta, Lizbeth Mateo, Yahaira Carrillo, Mohammad Abdollahi and Raúl Alcaraz locked arms and called on McCain to support the DREAM Act, legislation that would have provided a generation of undocumented persons between the ages of 12 and 35 with conditional resident status and a path to permanent residency.
"They totally changed the game when they were doing that sit-in in McCain's office because, up to that point, people were speaking on our behalf and they were f*cking getting arrested," says Julio Salgado. "I thought it was so bad*ss that they did that."
Their action launched a new wave of protests and activism in support of the DREAM Act that also inspired Salgado to be bolder with his art. It began simply as his way of recognizing the important work that many organizers and activists were doing on the ground to raise the voices of millions of people like him. Today, it has grown as a means to support and uplift people who identify as both undocumented and queer, just as he does.
"The five people who you saw sitting down [in McCain's office]," he says, "Four of them identify as queer."
Salgado began drawing as a kid in his native Ensenada, Baja California. He can't remember a time when he wasn't drawing, and his art skills won him a cake in a drawing contest hosted by a local radio station held during el Día del Niño holiday.
El lenguaje es la defensa del ser ante el poder siniestro, que avanza sobre los seres humanos y la poesía, es una forma de respirar, caminar y abrazar.
Es más que una expresión. Es un modo de andar por el mundo, de convivir con los demás.
-- Julio Salgado.
A una altura de la vida estamos tan acribillados de imágenes, tan apresurados por las cosas, que ya no tenemos el tiempo que nos daba la niñez de ser observadores casi inocentes.
-- Julio Salgado.
#GETLOUD through art-making with this Culturestrike-produced guide. Speaking up takes hard work, but in the end, it's your voice.
http://www.culturestrike.org/project/%E2%80%9Cuntil-we-are-all-free%E2%80%9D-art-kit