in Mexico for him and his family.” Ofelia is remembered as someone who always fought to “forge a future for herself and her children.” Mendoza’s allusion to the aesthetic of El Moviemento is not meant to assert nationalism or signal cultural opposition. The religious, indigenous, and labor traditions she evokes do speak to histories of oppression and exploitation but also of communal resilience and triumph. They are embraced as a source of pride and collective identity, which is profound when undocumented laborers are so often required to hide – when not physically from immigration authorities, then culturally through assimilation. By placing their portraits at centers of American power – by turning The Roost and Broadway into Contact Zones – Mendoza insists on their recognition. However, her aesthetic also makes clear that embracing who they are does not mean undocumented immigrants are foreign to America. They share values with American citizens. They have contributed to the American economy for generations. They sacrifice themselves for the good of American citizens. Mendoza’s installation asks passersby to consider what, in essence, separates undocumented immigrants from American citizens. At heart, she suggests, they are so alike that the logic of anti-immigrant rhetoric becomes self-defeating. Undocumented immigrants are no less human than American citizens. They are not pathogens that sicken the nation. Historically, and within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic especially, they are essential to the health and continued well-being of the U.S. body. Mendoza makes this argument explicitly as part of the online memorial to which the QR code leads passersby: “Sixty-nine percent of undocumented immigrant workers are essential workers on the frontlines keeping us safe, healthy, and cared for during this pandemic. It is clear that there is no recovery without immigrants” (Mendoza). In this regard, anti-immigrant rhetoric argues against the interests of the United States. In conjunction with the anti-immigrant policies it champions, it turns the immune system against the body it supposedly protects. . . . The difficulties undergone by immigrants suggest that the U.S. body is suffering from an auto-immune disease that attacks vital organs working to its benefit. The hateful rhetoric of political leaders alone endangers the lives of undocumented immigrants, heightening fear in their communities as its increases the likelihood of violence against them (Byman 2021). Furthermore, the pandemic has heightened the stakes and exacerbated systemic issues. The seven bright faces memorialized by the Immigrants are Essential installation are a few of the thousands of undocumented immigrant lives taken by the virus. This toll is worsened by the lack of help 22
23 Publizr Home