El Viaje: Memory Lanterns

These memory lanterns were created by the six families of the "El Viaje" project. The images are photographs of portraits Michelle took of their family members living in Mexico. Each participant combined the portraits with their messages to their loved ones. The lanterns are a memory and connection to their families back home.

El Viaje featured in BBC Español

The stories and art works by the families in "El Viaje" (Philadelphia) were recently featured in a special interview conducted by BBC Español.

To view the BBC Español interview click here.

El Viaje in Mexico- Phase II

The second phase of "El Viaje" is complete.

The Families

Nora and I traveled to Mexico in August to connect with the families that reside in Mexico. The families were asked to share how immigration has impacted their lives since their children have immigrated to Philadelphia.

Each person we connected with shared a compelling story of how the family dynamic has changed. They shared their realities of not seeing their children for many years and some even raising their grandchildren left behind. Being in Mexico we can see that due to the financial strain these communities are facing, many individuals feel forced to leave to progress and have a better life for their children.

We were incredibly moved by the courage of each family to share their story. These video testimonials demonstrate sacrifice, struggle but most of all the inner strength of the families. We plan to edit the video and hope to be able to show what was shared. Our intention is to utilize the video to bring awareness and search for resources to help the communities in Mexico and Philadelphia.

Messages Through Public Art

In Philadelphia, the families created paintings that were self-portraits and symbols from Aztec and Mayan culture. I introduced the families to a series of mural painting techniques, one being painting on fiber cloths. I use this process in my mural work to transport murals from one place to another. This technique allowed for the works to be transportable and to be installed permanently in other spaces. Nora worked closely with the families in the content of the murals along with investigating indigenous Mexican imagery that was represented in their paintings. With our direction, the families in Philadelphia created beautiful paintings that we then took with us and transported to Mexico.

These paintings carried messages that were installed in the participants' communities in Mexico. Mural paintings were installed in El Valle del Chalco in Mexico City, Tlaxcaca, Domingo Arenas and finally San Mateo Ozolco, Puebla, Mexico.

Through these works, the participants' where able to leave their mark in their communities. We were offered the opportunity to create a large-scale mural in the Emiliano Zapata High School in San Mateo Ozolco. As the volcanos of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl hovered over us, we led a group of local artists and over 90 high school students and school staff in the creation of the mural entitled "Fuego Nuevo" (New Fire).

All of the students in this high school have family that have immigrated to Philadelphia. It was important to share the "El Viaje" stories and messages of preserving their culture and the reality of living in the United States as immigrants. The students were amazing and worked together with our guidance in creating this mural. We hope that whether they decide to leave their community or not, that they are proud of their culture and ancestry.

El Viaje in the news

El Viaje Exhibit was mentioned in the Daily News and Al Dia newspapers. Check it out!

Philadelphia Daily News

By Madoree Pipkins

While some Mexican immigrants may already have found their voices in their new Philadelphia community, others are still searching. Local artists Nora Litz and Michelle Ortiz are helping some of them speak out through their "El Viaje" project."El Viaje" - "the journey" in Spanish - is six Mexican families' visual accounts of their experiences leaving their Mexican homeland and traveling to South Philadelphia, where they now live.

The paintings and other objects convey the heartfelt emotions of leaving family members behind to embark on a difficult, sometimes dangerous journey to an unfamiliar land.Litz and Ortiz guided the six families - whose members range in age from preschool to 60 - through a series of workshops, introducing them to Mexican art styles and encouraging them to share their stories with brushstrokes and crafts."Some of our participants never painted before. Nora and I were there simply to help bring out their stories, they did the rest," said Ortiz. "The creative process brings people together naturally."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

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Al Dia Newspaper

By Nubia Erives

“Esta exposición se trata no sólo de pinturas comunes, sino de lo que está dentro de cada inmigrante que ha cruzado la frontera”, dijo Michelle Ortíz, quien desde hace un año comenzó el proyecto El Viaje. Dicho proyecto es una serie de pinturas y dibujos hechos por inmigrantes mexicanos instruidos por la artista colombiana Michelle Ortíz y la mexicana Nora Hiriart Litz, y quienes en dichas pinturas ayudaron a los participantes a recordar de donde vienen y a donde van.

El proyecto de El Viaje inició el año pasado y en él los participantes relataron su experiencia como inmigrantes a través de sus obras de arte. Este año la continuación de El Viaje se comprende de obras de arte y de un documental que con entrevistas de quienes realizaron las pinturas y decidieron compartir su testimonio.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

El Viaje Exhibition at Casa Monarca

Opening Reception

Friday, June 11th, 2010

6:30- 9:00 pm

The original paintings of El Viaje project will be displayed at Casa Monarca located at 1448 S. 17th Street (17th and Dickinson Streets). This special night will be filled with folkloric Mexican dance performances and an outdoor screening of El Viaje documentary.

The event is free and open to the public.

ABOUT EL VIAJE

The project “El Viaje”, created by artists Nora Hiriart Litz and Michelle Angela Ortiz, uses the arts to bring awareness of the real struggles of the rising immigrant Mexican community in South Philadelphia.

“El Viaje” utilizes the arts to accomplish the following goals:

• To identify the social issues that immigrant Mexican families are experiencing in Mexico and the U.S.
• To connect and fully initiate a creative process as an outlet for expression to the Mexican immigrant community in South Philadelphia.
• To encourage the preservation of cultural heritage and identity in the midst of assimilation.
• To inspire dialogue for in-depth conversations where the voices of the community can be told and heard.
• To reinforce a deeper level of communication between the Mexican families in Philadelphia and their families in Mexico.
• To support existing initiatives that are addressing the needs of Mexican families in Philadelphia.

How do the artists identify with this project?

Nora Hiriart Litz: "Although I have lived in this country for 30 years, I define myself as Mexican. Even though my children are American and I have learned the language, my connection to Mexico is still very strong. I believe that who I am plays a large role in this project because I can connect to the community as a Mexican, a woman, a mother and an immigrant placed in the same emotional position as them. After living here for so many years, I have witnessed how immigration has impacted my own life. This experience gives me the perspective of knowing what can be gained and lost through the cultural divide that immigration generates."

Michelle A. Ortiz: "As a child of immigrants, I have experienced the feeling of belonging and not belonging to a space that is ever changing. My parents settled in the community to search for opportunities for themselves and their children. I was born and raised in South Philadelphia in a time where my family was the ONLY Latino family in my neighborhood. They had to battle the social barriers such as class, education, gender stereotypes and race. This common history is shared with the Mexican families, they are reflections of my parents and their children are reflections of me."

PHASE ONE- PHILADELPHIA

PHASE ONE

In August 2009, we began the first phase of the project which were a series of art workshops with Mexican families in South Philadelphia. A total of six families created original art works and video testimonials that communicate their similar struggles, sacrifices, triumphs and realities as immigrants making the journey to the United States.

We connected with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pequeñas Comunidades, Epiphany School Head Start Program, Casa Monarca and Juntos Casa de los Soles to connect with the families in the community. I created the lesson plan structure and extensive community arts curriculum for all of the workshop sessions and helped Nora secure sponsorship by the Leeway Foundation through an Art and Change Grant.

Nora worked with the families in creating paintings in the style of exvoto art work.

An exvoto is a painting that represents a favor made by the person's patron saint. The families used the exvotos as models to create their paintings that are testimonies of the events occurred during their journeys. The children created works related to Mexican culture and traditions with the help of volunteer artists: Meridith Dannenfelser, Heather Robertson, Carol Deutsch, Alicia Miño and Adan Velis.

During the painting of the exvotos, I worked closely with videographer Mario Diez Urdante in the filming of each of the family members' video testimonials. The families have agreed to show their works of art as a tool to create awareness of their issues in the city.