Living United for Change in Arizona hosted a virtual community event to plan the creation of a mobile mural that will be displayed at the Arizona Capitol Museum called Resilience: Resiliencia, commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the infamous Arizona immigration law SB-1070.
Arisdelci Gonzalez, an organizer for Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, and artists Diana Calderon and Lucinda Hinojos worked together to host a virtual immigration forum and mural workshop to discuss what form the mural would take.
“The goal of the workshop is to educate through history, story tell, bring in organizers, activists, artists, community and educators while providing a space to learn and participate,” Hinojos said.
The notorious 2010 anti-illegal immigration bill SB-1070 is still among the strictest and most controversial bills in the country. The widely-protested bill allowed law enforcement to ask for identification or papers of people who they suspected were in the country illegally and galvanized immigrant-rights activism in Arizona that continues to this day.
Throughout the forum, the audience shared their stories related to the bill in order to create inspiration for ideas for the mural. Many of the members recollected on the week the bill was passed.
“When SB1070 happened, it was a moment where we were also working toward immigration reform,” said Arizona Rep. Raquel Teran, D-Glendale, during the immigration forum.
Originally, LUCHA planned to host the two-day immigration forum and mural workshop in-person but moved the meetings online following local and federal recommendations to remain indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We knew we were going to be having a lot of challenges, the first being how much input will the community have in our project,” Gonzalez said. “That was the first one we really had to access because this is a community project and we were really reliant for the community to show up to this event.”
LUCHA discussed between having a webinar and a virtual meeting for this particular project but decided on virtual meetings since it allows for a two-way conversation, unlike a webinar.
Gonzalez led the first day of the meeting, focusing on the immigration forum, Hinojos and Calderon led the second day of the meeting, focusing on the mural workshop.
The first part of the art project, which will be displayed at the Arizona Capitol Museum, is a mobile mural, so Hinojos will be able to work on the project at her home without risk to any exposure to herself or the community. The second mural, which is supposed to be located in Tucson, is currently on a pause due to pandemic.
Since the first part of the mural will be a mobile mural, LUCHA is relying on Zoom and social media platforms for community participation and input. They plan on releasing photos and having the community view the artists while they paint the mural.
“We haven’t really considered a virtual gallery per se, but we are going to be releasing the mural virtually through our social media, emails, making sure the public sees what came out of the art workshop,” Gonzalez said.
Hinojos and Calderon are both planning on working on the mockup for the mural and sending participating community members images in order for them to provide community guidance and feedback.
For community members who don’t have access to technology to participate, LUCHA plans on bringing in the community from across Arizona to participate in the Tucson project when the stay-at-home order is lifted.
“It’s very nice to be here 10 years after the SB1070 because we have worked 10 years, and we’re in a moment of total crisis, but we have learned so much and we’re stronger to work through these uncertain times,” Teran said.
Contact the reporter at sacastr3@asu.edu.
