For artist, found objects humanize migrant journey
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Courtesy of Deborah McCulloughTitle: 'Why Does God Allow Suffering?' Artist's description: People risk their lives to walk the migrant trails. They leave behind personal items, ones that remind us of their humanity, their desperation and their determination. As I created this shrine, I thought of the faith of the person who carried this book. That person walked a trail through an area that has been walked throughout the centuries. Did he ask himself, 'Why does God allow suffering?' -
Courtesy of Deborah McCulloughTitle: 'Lucresia's Mother' Artist's description: I attended Lucresia’s funeral. Her father, Cesar, was there. He’d spent weeks in the desert looking for her body. Her son couldn’t be there; he could not get a Visa. Her mother couldn’t come; they couldn’t afford it. But I was there and I kept thinking over and over, 'what if that were my daughter?' My heart broke for that family, and for all the families who have lost love ones in the desert so close to my home. It was this event that inspired this piece -
Courtesy of Deborah McCulloughTitle: 'Smile: A collection of toothpaste and toothbrushes' Artist's description: Imagine going on a trip that will last months or years, traveling for days through a country you’ve never seen, carrying your own food, your own water, your own clothing. At the end you will want to present yourself for work: clean clothes, sweet smelling and with clean teeth and fresh breath. In the most severe circumstances, brushing your teeth may keep your dry mouth moist. It may encourage you to keep going, to remember that despite the dust, the loneliness or the apprehension about the future, you are a person with dignity, hopes, dreams and courage. -
Courtesy of Deborah McCulloughTitle: 'Whose Child is This?' Artist's description: A friend brought me a small baby doll found beneath a tree on the migrant trail. Over and over I asked myself, 'what child left this doll, whose child was this?' I was reminded of the Christmas hymn, 'What Child is This?' Thus I created a shrine with this deteriorating doll surrounded by thorns and resting above a halo made from thorns and the lid of a tuna can.
"Picking Up the Pieces," an exhibit of artwork inspired by items left behind by migrants crossing the deserts of Southern Arizona, opened Tuesday at the University of Arizona School of Art.
Artist Deborah McCullough has been been walking migrant trails for years, collecting objects left behind by border crossers, and using them to create her installations.
"I find ... personal items, an embroidered cloth used for wrapping tortillas, a child's toy, a baby carrier, a Bible or a notebook with hand-written prayers," McCullough said.
What inspires her work? McCullough hopes to appeal to the viewer's sense of humanity.
"My objective is to present these things in such a way that the viewer is reminded that these are human beings who are walking mile after mile; people who are caught in a political web," said McCullough. "They are people struggling to feed their families or they may be people trying to return to families in the USA."
The exhibit, produced in collaboration with UA's Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry, is open through Oct. 31, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p .m, in the Lionel Rombach Gallery, 1031 N. Olive Rd., Rm. 108.
A closing reception, Nov. 1, 1:30-3 p.m., will be held in conjunction with the center's Full Circle: Confluencenter Explores the the Sounds, Tastes and Sights of Death.
If you go
- What: Picking Up the Pieces: Artifacts From the Migrants' Journey
- Where: Lionel Rombach Gallery, Rm. 108, 1031 N. Olive Rd., UA School of Art
- When: Oct. 21-Oct. 31, Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.,
- Chat with the artist, Tues, Oct 28, 3-5 p.m.
- Closing Reception, Nov. 1, Sat., 1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.
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