CarvingThroughBorders emphasizes sharing skills and creating collaborative artistic work via oversize block prints that give life to migrants’ diverse experiences.

The project draws inspiration from historic graphic campaigns that shed light on the humanity of everyday people whose stories are too-often unseen and unheard. The works are a part of a collection of 13 oversized woodblock prints with pro‐migrant messaging commissioned by CultureStrike. Undocumented and documented artists from the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York and Florida were asked to illustrate various aspects of migration with a local, national or worldwide scope: detention, deportation, displacement, discrimination, exploitation, violence, youth, criminalization, legalization, and economic and ecological brutality wherever and however it occurs.

The first edition of prints was done with a steamroller on fabric by Master Printers from Syracuse University during the 42nd annual Southern Graphic Council Conference in San Francisco on March 29, 2014. The second edition of prints, shown here at El Museo Del Barrio, was printed on Sekishu paper at Favianna Rodriguez’s West Oakland studio by printmaster Nichol Markowitz.

ABOUT CULTURESTRIKE

CultureStrike works toward a society that recognizes and embraces migration and the migrant experience. We harness the power of culture to organize artists, writers and other culture makers to transform public views and sentiment around migration, and to fight for equity and full inclusion of migrants and their communities in the United States’ social fabric. For more on CultureStrike, visit the website, here.