RE-THINK IMMIGRATION
A Monday-through-Friday, non-partisan blog covering the most
contentious policy issue of our time: immigration.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
"Borderlandia" art exhibit
Posted By Daniela  at 10:10 PM
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An art exhibit at the Des Moines Art Center caught our eye—called "Borderlandia," it features works by Mexican-born San Francisco artist Eduardo Chagoya.

What we found particularly interesting was the way the New York TImes' Caucus blog described the art:
One work depicts former California Governor Pete Wilson, known for his harsh anti-immigration views, being consumed by Aztecs. In other works, Mickey Mouse is turned into a threatening symbol of United States imperialism and Christopher Columbus is seen as landing in the Americas in gunboats.

The exhibit, by Mexican-born artist Enrique Chagoya, who now lives in San Francisco, would provide plenty of ammunition for anti-immigration activists – all signs are in Spanish and English, George W. Bush is held up for ridicule in art pieces in which he morphs into Richard Nixon and a satirical Superman bursts out of Pilgrim garb. (...)

In its own way, the exhibit turns some of the current immigration debate on its head. One of the interpretive signs says that: “Chagoya points out that the Pilgrims were actually some of the first illegal aliens, who invaded and ultimately seized the land from the Native Americans.”


   
Comments
  said...

This exhibit amply displays the schizophrenia and confused thinking of the extreme Mexican nationalist. On the one hand, the Mexican nationalists scream that they are "entitled" to come to the US because "we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." On the other hand, they refuse to admit that the only reason they are interested in coming here is because of the superior system of government devised by the "pilgrims" they so despise. In essence, this "artist" is saying: "I hate America and Americans, and I demand that you let me come here in unlimited numbers so I and my raza can benefit from the system that your illegal alien pilgrims built." It reminds me of good old Dee and her convoluted arguments for open borders: on the one hand vociferously demanding that unlimited numbers of Mexicans be allowed to immigrate here because they are all starving to death -- on the other hand, vociferously denying that the Anglo-founded US was in any way better than the HIspanic-founded Mexico. Mexican nationalists, which is it? Either the "pilgrims" created a better way to live, or they didn't. And if they didn't, please go home en masse and partake of the "superior" Mexican civilization your ancestors built. P.S. -- Mickey Mouse as a symbol of US imperialism isn't a new or "fresh" idea -- poor old Mickey was regularly portrayed as such by Pravda and Izvestia back in the 1950s.
January 02 , 2008 08:01:08 AM

  said...

Also, could someone please explain to me, why we would want to offer more citizenship privileges to more of these extreme Mexican nationalists like Mr. Chagoya? Why import this kind of trouble?
January 02 , 2008 08:01:27 AM

  said...

I'm surprised this exhibit hasn't gotten more press -- it sounds pretty racy! While I agree with MissIrene that Mickey Mouse as a symbol of capitalism isn't very envelope-pushing, many of the other pieces of art described by the NYT are pretty new. And I see the point in describing Pilgrims as the "First illegal aliens"...
January 02 , 2008 12:01:22 PM

  said...

Irene, really? We should deny entry into this country anyone who disgrees with rightist nativists?
January 02 , 2008 12:01:35 PM

  said...

Irene, really? We should deny entry into this country anyone who disgrees with rightist nativists? Dear miss bluebell, are you possibly the reincarnation of one of the Emperor Nero's court advisors? I can hear your sage advice ringing down the centuries even now: "Do you seriously believe, Dear Emperor, that we Romans should deny entry into our lands to all those big blonde people from the North who despise us?" No, I do not see any benefit to our country of granting citizenship to 10s of millions of people who think like this man. I only see the seeds of a terrible and extremely bloody civil war. PS -- please do not flatter yourself by thinking that calling me a "rightist nativist" is somehow lobbing a devastating insult in my direction. I consider it a compliment to be called a nativist -- I stand for my raza, the American raza, just as your pro-illegal alien buddies stand for their raza, the Mexican raza. You cannot accuse me of some breach of morality, without acccusing them of the same. TO believe otherwise is to stand before all of us as a hypocrite.
January 02 , 2008 07:01:30 PM