“Flores de Libertad” by the artist Michelle Angela Ortiz
An upcoming exhibition in Harrisburg is intended to serve as a celebration, a historical archive and a lesson in the power of collective action.
“Queremos Justicia: How We Closed Berks” comes to the Susquehanna Art Museum in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and features art and stories from the years-long movement to close an immigrant detention center in Berks County.
The exhibition, which runs from August 31 to November 3, includes paintings, posters, T-shirts, photographs and a documentary film created and used for promotional purposes during the Shut Down Berks Coalition’s eight-year fight to close the prison where families of undocumented immigrants were held.
The detention center was one of only three prisons for immigrant families in the United States and was known for its unsafe and abusive conditions, according to Jasmine Rivera, a co-founder of the coalition. Over the years, hundreds of volunteers and organizations joined the coalition. On January 31, 2023, the detention center was closed.
Art became an important piece of the puzzle for organizers, with many artists supporting the cause, many of whom volunteered to create works to educate and inform the public about the issue, advocate for the cause with lawmakers, and give immigrants a voice.
“I and many others in the coalition would say, ‘I don’t want to be part of a movement without art,'” Rivera said. “Art brings people together. It calls people to action and to building communities.”
One of the artists involved in the movement was Philadelphia-based Michelle Angela Ortiz, who created murals, billboards and bus stop advertisements as part of her “Familias Separadas” campaign. She spent months visiting women in the detention center, listening to their stories and working with them to create art installations and her documentary film, “Las Madres de Berks.” Ortiz is also responsible for a permanent mural in Allison Hill that features an image of an immigrant woman and her son.
“I tried to find ways to focus on their strengths,” she said. “I was able to work with them – not ignoring the difficulties they were going through – but really focusing on their strengths.”
At the SAM exhibition, the fourth stop of the traveling exhibition, viewers can see Ortiz’s “Flores de Libertad” exhibit, which includes over a thousand paper flowers with messages of freedom from community members and the women incarcerated in Berks. This is the first presentation of the exhibition that will feature this artwork. Her documentary film will also be shown as part of the exhibition.
For Ortiz and Rivera, the exhibition is a historical archive and tells the story of the struggle for freedom, but is also a tribute to successful activism.
“The significance of closing this prison is enormous,” Ortiz said. “This moment is a shining example of a community coming together and winning a fight.”
Rivera also hopes that the Shut Down Berks Coalition’s story and its use of art to further its mission will make viewers aware that their skills and passions can make a difference.
“I hope people realize that we need everyone in the fight for change,” Rivera said. “Everyone is capable and talented. We need the artists as much as we need the organizers.”
For more information about “Queremos Justicia: How We Close Berks,” visit the Susquehanna Art Museum website. For Michelle Angela Ortiz’s work, visit her website.
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