We were migrants photo created by one of the creators of the exhibit “We Were Migrants” that could be seen at the WCU Bardo Center Gallery 130. Photo taken on Sept.18, 2018. Photo by Tyler Davis.
A photo exhibit focusing on migrants opened on Sept. 17 at the Bardo Fine & Performing Arts Center. The exhibit will be followed by a lecture from a Latinx and multiethnic literature lecturer, Dr. Melissa Birkhofer, from WCU’s English Department, on Sept. 20.
The trilingual photo-essay exhibit, “We Were Migrants: Chronicle of Indigenous Migrants from Chiapas, Mexico,” will be on display in Gallery 130 of the Fine Art Museum through Oct. 12 as part of the Hispanic Heritage Month. Birkhofer’s lecture will be in the same space from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday.
“We Were Migrants” is produced in conjunction with Chiapas Photography Project. It features photo essays depicting the experiences of four Tsotsil-speaking people from Chiapas who migrated to the U.S. before returning to the Mexican state. CPP project started in 1992 as a project that:
“serves the indigenous Maya population in the state of Chiapas. Communities in the region have long been photographed and represented by outsiders, and I wanted to offer Maya peoples the opportunity to decide how to use photography for themselves, to record their stories and create visual memories.”
The exhibit is also known as “Xanbiletik” in Tsotsil, one of many languages spoken in Chiapas, and “Fuimos Migrantes” in Spanish.
“These are the ways these people want their stories to be told,” Birkhofer said.
The exhibit is part of the Latinx Learning Community and ties in with the Josefina Niggli Latinx Speakers Series and this year’s campus learning theme ‘Defining America’ and One Book selection ‘The Book of Unknown Americans.’
The lecture and the exhibit are free.
