Museo Immigrante

By Suzanne Révy

We live in a nation of immigrants. Parts of my mother’s family arrived in this country before it was a country, in the 17th century. My toddler father was carried in the arms of my grandmother across the ocean to flee Europe at the start of World War II. Most U.S. citizens can relay a myriad of ancestral stories and myths of their landing here from distant shores. Many recent arrivals hale from the Global South, and are often the invisible workers who toil in the shadows, but whose histories are filled with yearning, love and loss. The exhibit Museo Immigrante: Stories of Resilience from Somerville’s Padres Latinos aims to highlight the richness of recent immigrant experiences through photographs, objects and narratives and is currently on view at the Somerville Museum through March 23rd, 2024. 

Museo Immigrante installation with kitchen table at the Somerville Museum. (Photograph by Suzanne Révy)

Curators Ivan Abarca-Torres and Marta Fuertes Rodriguez interviewed ten families living in Somerville who were part of a collaborative organization called Padres Latinos. Formed during the Covid-19 pandemic, it consists of around 230 Spanish and Portuguese speaking parents with children in the Somerville School District. The organization strengthens community by sharing information about such things as food, health, housing and education. The exhibition is a celebration of the resilience and determination that immigrants employ to navigate and flourish in a new country. 

Veralice from El Salvadore states, “Here I could do the things I could never do in El Salvadore.” Photograph by Iaritza Menjivar from the exhibition Museo Immigrante, coutesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

(Featured Image) Ghandy from Guatemala says, “My mom always used to tell me this: Work hard for yourself because people won’t care about your successes, only your failures and they will be happy about them.”  Photograph by Mario Quiroz from the exhibition Museo Immigrante, courtesy of the artist and Somerville Museum.

They partnered with  photographers Iaritza Manjivar and Mario Quiroz to make pictures of each family, and created an immersive exhibit that centers around a kitchen table. Echos of voices from video interviews reverberate from behind the wall of the kitchen.  It evokes the sounds of voices that can be heard through the walls of small homes or apartments where two or three families live together. The kitchen is their communal space. We learn the wrenching and poignant tales of each family through extensive wall texts that are offered in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The narratives are enhanced by the cherished ephemera that many of these immigrants carried with them on their journey to the United States.  The result is profoundly moving. 

Alejandra and her son are from Guadalajara, Mexico and she says, “I believe it’s a beautiful experience to meet those people, no matter how few they may be… the few people I know have helped me a lot, have helped my son a lot, and that makes me very happy.” Photograph by Iaritza Menjivar from the exhibit Museo Immigrante, courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

Ana Paula from Brazil states, “I see a beautiful future for my life, for my family. I know i am getting older here. Emily is growing up. I see the future together with Emily, growing, studying to be someone in life.” Photograph by Iaritza Menjivar, from the exhibition Museo Immigrante, courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

Ana Paula from Brazil embraces a dress that belonged to her mother who she never saw after leaving Brazil in 2003. The dress is among her ephemera that functions as a kind of memorial to her mother whose funeral Ana Paula was unable to attend. (Installation photograph by Suzanne Révy)

Menjivar’s and Quiroz’s photographs are starkly different, but both artists bring an empathetic eye to their sitters. Menjivar used a studio with colorful backdrops that relate to the heritage of each sitter, while Quiroz’s pictures are documentary. The pictures delineate the strong bonds between parents and children, while also hinting at the physical, economic and psychological challenges of living far from extended family. The accompanying stories and mementos bring a poignant melancholy to the installation, and yet the bonds of togetherness and community warm the room.

Bitalina and her husband are from El Salvadore stated: “She tells me you’re not on the waiting list, you’ve already won the affordable housing lottery. I… I couldn’t react.” Photograph by Mario Quiroz from the exhibition Museo Immigrante, courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

Wendy with her son are from Peru and arrived last year, she states: “I never imagined, thought or knew that there was so much help. Because yes, when it comes to my son, when it comes to groceries, yes, it has helped us a lot.” Photograph by Mario Quiroz, courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

The exhibit is anchored with a wall of vernacular pictures, installed salon-style, as is common in the homes of South and Central Americans. Family photographs are displayed with religious icons to form visual and emotional connections between generations and across borders. The absence of loved ones who were left behind or have passed on are palpably present in these reverential altars to family.

Vernacular and family photographs along with religious icons from the families and artists participating in the exhibition Museo Immigrante at the Somerville Museum. (Photograph by Suzanne Révy)

A smaller, second gallery features black and white prints by Quiroz from his series This is Where I Belong of various neighborhoods, festivals and people in Somerville. And Menjivar replicated her studio set-up so that visitors can make pictures and recordings to upload their own stories to the museum’s archive. This collaborative project visibly validates and dignifies people who might feel invisible as Americans, but who probably have more claim to that moniker than someone with European ancestry, like me. 

“86” by Mario Quiroz from the series This is Where I Belong in the exhibition Museo Immigrante, courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

A replica of Iaritza Menjivar’s studio where visitors can make pictures and recordings to upload to the museum’s archive. Photograph by Mario Quiroz courtesy of the artist and the Somerville Museum.

For more information: https://www.somervillemuseum.org