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Brown University's Sawyer Seminar
Breaking Out:
Immigrant Art from Stewart Detention Center
Lumpkin, Georgia
Part of Art at Watson
Join the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Art at Watson for the opening of the exhibit “Breaking Out: Immigrant Art from Stewart Detention Center.” The exhibit has been installed on the first floor of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (111 Thayer Street, Providence).
The exhibition “Breaking Out: Immigrant Art from Stewart Detention Center” offers a first-person perspective on life for individuals from the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond, who have been or are currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA. Comprising letters, artwork, and objects created by people detained at SDC, the exhibition evokes themes of repressive detention conditions, memories of life before experiencing immigration enforcement, and hope for a future free from institutional violence.
This event is sponsored by the Mellon Sawyer Seminar “Rethinking the Dynamic Interplay of Migration, Race, and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and Latin America.”
Free and open to the public.
In memory of Jeancarlo Alfonso Jimenez-Joseph 1990-2017
Jean lost his life on the 19th day of solitary confinement in Stewart Detention Center. He was born in Panama and moved to the United States with his family at 11 years old. Jean dreamed of being a business owner and studied architecture at a community college. In 2016, he suffered a traumatic brain injury from a skateboarding accident that changed his life. Jean began struggling with his mental health and encountering problems with the law that led to the revocation of his DACA status. Despite his medical history and telling staff that he was considering suicide, ICE and CoreCivic isolated Jean in solitary confinement in violation of laws and stated policies. On May 15, 2017, Jean died by suicide alone in his cell.
Visual Testimonies
The visual testimonies that you will witness have broken out of this immigration prison. They are told through art and letters created inside and sent out through the mail to advocates waiting to receive them. The art and letters bear the markings of their clandestine creation and their journey. Look closely to see the crinkled edges from tucking a work-in-progress inside a pocket, the bent and tattered corners from stuffing papers under the bed and out of sight, the lines from folding a letter to fit inside an envelope. These blemishes etch into the art and letters a reminder that many immigrants must make their journeys and live their lives to avoid detection by authorities. This exhibit is a venue for you to peer inside the envelope that travels more freely beyond detention than most of those who have been detained. You are encouraged to consider what grows out of the distance and the silence that usually lies between you and those who are speaking to you from detention.
El Refugio
You can witness these testimonies for the first time online because of El Refugio, an organization that has served and advocated for those detained at Stewart Detention Center and those affected by the detention of their family and friends. From their archive of thousands of letters dating back to 2013, El Refugio has lent us these communications to grow our consciousness about the lived experiences of migration to the U.S. and detention in the U.S. Central to El Refugio’s work are three demands: release all immigrants detained in Stewart Detention Center, close Stewart Detention Center and all detention centers, and hold accountable the institutions that perpetrate violence against immigrants.
Curator: Kristen Kolenz
The art and letters testifying to you here from Stewart Detention Center are only snapshots of the loneliness, violence, destruction, regeneration, and hope that germinate from forced migration – a term to describe human migratory movements that are coerced by conditions of violence, poverty, and severe lack of opportunity. These testimonies allow us to trace paths into, inside of, and away from this corner of rural Georgia and demystify the narratives we have come to expect about people who are subjected to immigration enforcement. While you will see more notes as you go, remember that the art and letters are speaking to you for themselves.
In hope for transformation,
P.S. Please be advised: the people detained at SDC testify to surviving many forms of violence including sexual, political, and psychological violence and to living in proximity to many forms of death including suicide and as a result of Covid-19.
In hope for transformation,
P.S. Please be advised: the people detained at SDC testify to surviving many forms of violence including sexual, political, and psychological violence and to living in proximity to many forms of death including suicide and as a result of Covid-19.
Image of Africa
Sore B. 2016
Paths that lead to Stewart Detention Center
PATHS THAT LEAD TO STEWART DETENTION CENTER
Paths that lead to Stewart Detention Center
El Incierto Camino de un Estudiante Colombiano
Harol U. 2022
“The Uncertain Road of a Colombian Student”
(2021-2022)
Story of a social work student who had to leave their country to save their life.
As hundreds of students have had to leave to avoid the bad luck of so many students and social leaders who have been killed, tortured, and disappeared just in 2021 by police and parliamentary forces.
I was beaten, intimidated, and displaced from my home.
I leave my destiny in God’s hands.
(2021-2022)
Story of a social work student who had to leave their country to save their life.
As hundreds of students have had to leave to avoid the bad luck of so many students and social leaders who have been killed, tortured, and disappeared just in 2021 by police and parliamentary forces.
I was beaten, intimidated, and displaced from my home.
I leave my destiny in God’s hands.
Honduras Pandillas
My country, Honduras, is suffering so much because of the gang phenomenon. Many times, we are direct victims and other times we are collateral damage. I can’t compare the gravity of the situation to other places or times. But when our lives and the lives of our loved ones are in danger, we feel that terror takes over our lives. Sadly, we abandon our homes to find peace and relief, for the sake of our children.
I turned myself in...
Excerpt: …I turned myself in 2 ½, almost 3 months ago at the Texas border with my wife. They let her go because she is pregnant, but they have transferred me to more than 5 detention centers and now I am here…
Annie Moye
Public Historian Annie Moye was born and raised in Stewart County. Click the link below to listen to her discuss one history of Stewart Detention Center and the ways she sees immigration incarceration impacting her community:
LIVING AND DYING IN STEWART DETENTION CENTER
Self Portrait
Pedro M. 2022
Making Art Inside
Many people detained at SDC are extraordinary, resourceful artists. Here you see Arnaldo Francisco S.’s original art.
Making Art Inside
Many people detained at SDC are extraordinary, resourceful artists. Here you see Carlos’s traced version.
Samuel C. 2017
Juan Carlos C. 2019
Mis Días son Eternos en este Cuarto
Darling C. 2022
Excerpt: Hello, my name is Darling. I’ve been detained for 6 months and 10 days. They denied me asylum, my whole family is here in the US. I’ve had Covid 19 twice in this center. The treatment is degrading, the food is bad, all the officials are sick with Covid. They isolated me 20 days after the first person had Covid…
Mis Días son Eternos en este Cuarto
Darling C. 2022
Excerpt: …I am a single mother and I ask God everyday for strength for my children and my mother. And I ask Him to strengthen me so that I can stand this place…
Cuba 100%
Original artist and date unknown
Here I give you a present. I don’t know if someone has sent one before. We are 9 Cubans that lived together like brothers in the Tallahatchie Detention Center in Mississippi. I am the first one, front right to left and I am very proud of them; They always saw me like a father and I will also see them like my sons.
Cuba 100%
Original artist and date unknown
Here I give you a present. I don’t know if someone has sent one before. We are 9 Cubans that lived together like brothers in the Tallahatchie Detention Center in Mississippi. I am the first one, front right to left and I am very proud of them; They always saw me like a father and I will also see them like my sons.
In memory of Jeancarlo Alfonso Jimenez-Joseph 1990-2017
Jean lost his life on the 19th day of solitary confinement in Stewart Detention Center. He was born in Panama and moved to the United States with his family at 11 years old. Jean dreamed of being a business owner and studied architecture at a community college. In 2016, he suffered a traumatic brain injury from a skateboarding accident that changed his life. Jean began struggling with his mental health and encountering problems with the law that led to the revocation of his DACA status. Despite his medical history and telling staff that he was considering suicide, ICE and CoreCivic isolated Jean in solitary confinement in violation of laws and stated policies. On May 15, 2017, Jean died by suicide alone in his cell.
In memory of Jeancarlo Alfonso Jimenez-Joseph 1990-2017
WHICH PATH OF LIFE WILL I FOLLOW?
¿Qué camino de la vida seguiré?
I plan to return
Excerpt: I’m writing to ask for your help with a book, English for Latinos Level 1. I will be so grateful to you. I am already deported but I plan to return speaking English. With your help, I can do it…
Mallory Mejia
Click the link below to listen to Mallory Mejia, the artist, discuss her relationship to Stewart Detention Center and her work:
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