Entry Question
Helen Ceballos describes the experience of arriving as an undocumented migrant and the weight of being seen or perceived in transit. What does this suggest about the challenges and risks of migration, and how might these experiences shape the ways migrants view themselves and their relationships with others?
Thinking of these questions describe how the photographs expand on the topics of migration present in Ceballos’s text.
Bio
Helen Ceballos is a Dominican performer, visual artists, writer and cultural promoter that addresses issues of migration to Puerto Rico and the US; Black Atlantic and Queer Afro-Latinidad.
As a photo-text, Cerezas por papeles/ Cherries for documents is part of a larger piece that Ceballos staged and performed in a gallery in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The piece is comprise of fragments inspired by Ceballos’ life experiences migrating to Puerto Rico and traveling and living in other countries including Brazil, Argentina and the US. Ceballos proposes that the topic of migration requires that we engage in multiple registers, narratives and perspectives. In particular she is invested in how migration affects Dominican and Caribbean women. She is also interested in how the vulnerability of being a migrant is intersected by gender-based oppression, anti-blackness and constant misreading.
Class Presentations
Group Discussions
Group One
How does Ceballos’ exploration of empowered womanhood intersect with her reflections on the perils and strategies of migration and traveling?
Group Two
Can you explain how Ceballos’ need to perform citizenship and belonging affects her interactions with other members of her community in her piece? What does the birth certificate for rent suggest about the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants and the lengths they may go to overcome them?
Group Three
Ceballos describes the labor and sacrifices of the women in her family. How do their experiences inform her understanding of the challenges faced by migrant women in the labor force today?
Group Four
How does the story of the author’s aunt Cathy highlight the difficulty and complexity of legalizing documents as an undocumented immigrant? What are the consequences of being unable to do so?
When Helen Ceballos describes the weight of being an undocumented migrant and potentially being seen, it suggests that the challenges of migration are not only physical but also mental and emotional. I can imagine one might develop imposter syndrome from this experience. Even if you reach your destination successfully without being seen, you may not feel like you belong there. it’s hard to create a home when you feel foreign. no matter how much time passes, you may not ever feel like you’re meant to be there due to the fact that if you are found out as undocumented you would lose everything all over again, the sacrifice could be for nothing extremely fast. Knowing that one’s life in a certain place could be taken at any moment probably wouldn’t let people become comfortable or feel any sense of self. They may feel like they don’t deserve to be there or don’t belong because they aren’t a true citizen. This could lead to self esteem issues and a lack of desire to develop a community. The thought process could be “why settle down if I don’t know when it will all come crashing down?”