MAIN PANEL: Migration, Prisons and Art
Friday, October 19th – 6pm
Leacock 219, McGill University (metro McGill)
WIth Favianna Rodriguez & No One is Illegal
This year, QPIRG and the SSMU are thrilled to invite political printmaker and digital artist and organizer Favianna Rodriguez from Oakland, alongside Montreal-based organizers from No One Is Illegal- Montreal and Recon. Together they will discuss Migration, Prisons and Art, with the aim of sparking discussion around how borders and prison are interconnected in profiting out of migrants in the US and Canada and ways that art can be used as a tool of resistance. The talk will be followed by a Q&A with the speakers, and will be accompanied by installation work from Favianna Rodriguez at Le Cagibi.
Favianna Rodriguez is a celebrated printmaker and digital artist based in Oakland, California. Using high-contrast colors and vivid figures, her composites reflect literal and imaginative migration, global community, and interdependence. Whether her subjects are immigrant day laborers in the U.S., mothers of disappeared women in Juárez, Mexico, or her own abstract self portraits, Rodriguez brings new audiences into the art world by refocusing the cultural lens. Through her work we witness the changing U.S. metropolis and a new diaspora in the arts.
No One Is Illegal-Montreal The No One Is Illegal campaign of Montreal is part of a worldwide movement of resistance, struggling collectively for the self-determination of migrants and indigenous peoples. We organize to be part of the resistance movement within the walls of Fortress North America. We recognize that struggles for self-determination, and for the free movement of people against colonial exploitation, are led by the communities who fight on the frontlines. The No One Is Illegal campaign lends tangible support to these struggles in our capacity as both participants and allies. In doing so, we seek to contribute to building a global movement for justice and dignity, while building links between communities of resistance locally and worldwide.