The “Patria Migrante” (Migrant Country) initiative was presented yesterday at the Jorge Marín Foundation . The project consists of a series of billboards and videos that will appear in public transport spaces throughout Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Puebla , with the goal of problematizing and highlighting the complexity of the situation Mexican migrants face in the United States .
The Patria Migrante initiative seeks to articulate the experience of immigrants on Wings of Mexico installations located in Mexico City, Texas, and California , showing the faces, lives, and dreams of people living on the other side of the border who still identify as Mexicans.
This Foundation’s first initiative will expand the original artist’s proposal of establishing a dialogue between the audience and the spaces on which his work has been put on display.
In an interview, Jorge Marín reflected upon the migrants’ experience, deeming it a traumatic process in which “people decide to completely change their surroundings and their entire lives, leaving their roots, origin, and loved ones behind.” He added that migrants should be treated like human beings.
Elena Catalán, leader of the Jorge Marín Foundation
, stated that the institution seeks to undertake projects of a comprehensive nature, in which aesthetic contemplation led to a direct effect on the community, contributing to rebuilding the social fabric .
The sculptor Jorge Marín was present at the event, in company of Israel Concha, chairman of the New Beginnings foundation .
The billboards and clips of Patria Migrante will be put on display from October 15 to December 15 at Mexico City’s Metrobus, the Mexibus in the State of Mexico, the Macrobus in Guadalajara, and RUTA, in Puebla .
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