Photo by Jean Miguel Martinez
New mural on Mitchell Street sponsored by Voces de la Frontera Action.
Voces de la frontera has been working tirelessly all year to make sure voices in the Latinx community are heard. Actions have ranged from press conferences, to protests to murals. Saturday, October 10 saw one of their most ambitious projects to date, a mural that stretched from 7th to 8th on Mitchell streets emphasizing the importance of voting in communities of color. Together with their affiliate group, Voces de los artistas, bright yellow letters that measured 275 feet long and 50 feet tall that read "VOTING IS POWER BLACK AND BROWN LIVES MATTER" stretched on the pavement. The fact that it was painted directly outside the "Latinos for Trump" headquarters was thoroughly intentional.
“Wisconsin has one of the most rapidly growing Latinx populations, and record numbers of Latinx immigrants have become recently naturalized and are voting for the first time in the 2020 elections,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera Action. “In Milwaukee County alone, there are nearly 35,000 naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote, and Trump won Wisconsin by less than 23,000 votes in 2016. Immigrants in Wisconsin have the power to change the course of this national election.”
Photo by Juan Miguel Martinez
“Every 30 seconds, a Latinx youth turns 18 years old in the United States,” said Jeanette Arellano, artist in the Voces de los Artistas, an artist collective in Milwaukee that worked to organize the event. “Our youth connect with learning and resistance in creative ways. Visuals and creative thinking have been uprising since our social distancing started. Social media has gotten more creative and more informative as well. So, we learn about voter suppression and our rights and how to win this election as we engage in creative ways.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Arellano is part of Las R.A.R.A.S collective, a group that plans art installations in the city. The street mural was not the only painting that took place, however, as there was canvas being stretched and signs for the Biden-Harris campaign being painted as well. Xela Garcia and Andy Linares, also from Las R.A.R.A.S, assisted and directed folks in making these signs, as they were pre-drawn. People painted in the colors for the signs, and there were also shirts being silkscreened with images of the monarch butterfly, the international symbol of immigration.
"I feel the message of what we are trying to do is clear, but more than anything, the spirit of community and solidarity is what is being presented. I am here on DACA and have never felt my existence be so threatened like it has been under this administration," said Fatima Flores, who attended the event to paint and spread awareness. They were not the only person in that circumstance, with that same worrisome thought at the event.
Voces de la Frontera Action’s work extends to a relational voter program, Voceros por el Voto. What this means is that the group is seeking to build a network of 23,000 new and infrequent Latinx, Black, youth, immigrant and pro-immigrant rural voters in Wisconsin.
According to the numbers that have been procured as of Sep. 30, 2020, they have had 12,394 conversations with people in their voter network. Since the program took off in March 2020, 16,835 eligible voters have been contacted. To learn more about VDLFA’s "Vocero por el voto" program and electoral work, please visit vdlfa.org.
To read more visual arts stories, click here.
To read more articles by Juan Miguel Martinez, click here.
