Immigrant Voices by Paola Viteri

The Immigrant Voices Exhibition featured at the Jackson Heights and Corona Public Libraries displayed stories and accounts
from  Queens immigrant residents from Ecuador, Mexico, Columbia and the Dominican Republic.

Our associated events included not only music, dance and film, but also panel discussions and presentations on the living conditions the immigrants had to endure in their respective home countries.

Major human rights violations were raised in this project, such as: state terrorism against indigenous peoples of Mexico, eco-terrorism (illegal oil exploitation in the Amazon) in Ecuador, civil & guerrilla wars in Columbia.

Exhibition panels were used to portray public domain images of wars, narco – wars, protests against the foreign oil grants to Ecuador, demonstrations by the native populations in all above mentioned countries, Mexico protests against the government for not solving the cases of missing indigenous school teachers in training.

The associated events had representatives such as lawyers of the families who had their loved ones missing, and the father of one of the young men killed during protests. In addition, dance group “Seeds” demonstrated through their performance that the killed Mexican teachers were indeed “seeds” planted in the indigenous soil.

“Migration is made up of many stories that have similarities, but also many differences that sometimes are not seen and are not known. Migration has a face, has a voice, and represents someone.”

– Paola Viteri, Historian and Videographer

 

Immigrant Voices Short Film

This excerpt from Immigrant Voices was created by Paola Viteri, a Historian and Videographer. The full short film can be viewed at the following link: Immigrant Voices.

This short film presents the testimonies of immigrants from Latin America, that talk about the meaning,… their meaning of immigration and being an immigrant. These voices and other immigrant voices are the ones that really know what immigration is and what it is to be an immigrant. Their meaning is completely different from the views or opinions of the media, the academy, and politicians.

Testimonies of those interviewed were obtained from the development of oral interviews, which were conducted in different locations, respecting the privacy and identity of those interviewed. The  film does not show  faces of the interviewees, only their voices. Sound quality of the oral interviews are not always optimal.