Car Trunk: A Multimodal Migration
Melisa Garcia
Thursday, October 31, 2019 | 03:00 pm
Latin American and Iberian Institute
801 Yale Blvd NE (campus building #165)
About:
"Car Trunk: a Multimodal Migration" is an exhibition of the reconstruction of the car trunk that Melisa’s mother, as a young child, migrated to the United States inside of. The installation utilizes multimodality, testimonio, art, and storytelling to reconstruct the memory and experience of her journey to the United States in the late 1970’s when she escaped the civil war in El Salvador with her mother and two sisters. The nature of the art project is so that through the model of the testimonio others are able to also interact, engage with the art pieces at a technological intimacy. This means that participants will be able to read about the emotional, political, and traumatic history of El Salvador through QR codes that will be on the car trunk. As well, social media will be utilized to have the participants experience surpass the installation state and reach others.
Melisa Garcia is a 4th year PhD student at the University of New Mexico in Rhetoric and Writing. She is a poet and graduated from UNM's MFA program in 2016 in poetry. Her artistic & academic work are amalgamation that both touch on and give light to the stories in her families, imagined spaces, and experiences that go untold. She is the daughter of immigrants both from Central America - Guatemala & El Salvador. She is a first generation graduate student and enjoys making her own jewelry and singing.
Notes:
This event is free and open to the public.
