“Painting towards freedom: An online art exhibit by immigrant youth activists in South Florida” is a project of a group of young immigrant activists supported by AFSC Florida. The program works to prepare a new generation of creative and community-engaged leaders for the immigrant rights movement in South Florida.
This youth group grew out of our successful 2019 coalition campaign to shut down Homestead detention center, once the largest detention center for migrant youth in the U.S. Critical to that campaign were young activists—including several artists in this exhibit—who served as key leaders in advocating for youth in detention. Many of our youth activists have grown up and live in Homestead, an agricultural town just 30 miles south of Miami. Many come from farmworker families, often working alongside their parents in the field or in plant nurseries.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified a lot of the issues that youth were already facing. Since March, AFSC staff have had weekly online check-ins with youth, making sure they were keeping safe, ensuring they and their families had personal protective equipment, and providing them with food assistance and other forms of mutual aid. Youth also shared that their families were struggling with additional issues—food insecurity, fear of layoffs, housing issues, and intense stress.
This art exhibit was created to help youth express the challenges they have faced, how they’re coping in this pandemic, and what they hope for the future for themselves, their families, and communities. We wanted to provide a platform for youth to showcase their talents—and find healing and comfort in the process of making art.
This exhibit marks the start of our efforts to help more youth in South Florida use art for their activism, and we are excited to continue our work to support young leaders in our movement work.
—Guadalupe De la Cruz, Youth and Farmworker Program Director, AFSC Florida