(In)visibility Aesthetics of Undocumentedness

Highlights the aesthetics of undocumentedness by featuring artworks from artists in the undoc+ spectrum

This book accompanies the Fowler Museum at UCLA exhibition (in)visibility, featuring the artwork of individuals in the undoc+ spectrum (currently or formerly undocumented). The works on view visually explore the aesthetics of undocumentedness, the complexity of immigration journeys, hyperdocumentation, re-indigenizing in diaspora, immigrant labor, healing from immigrant trauma, imperfect solidarities with exile and refugee communities, and remembrance of those who perished in search of the American dream. The show is guided by the aesthetic achievements of undoc+ artists; the publication is composed by undoc+ writers who, like the curator of this project, have been or are currently undocumented. The names of all participants have been purposefully concealed for their protection.

The curator of the show and editor of this volume (b. 1983, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México) is a formerly undocumented, first-generation, transnational, Japanese Mexican immigrant. She holds MAAB, MA, and MPhil degrees and is currently a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate at UCLA, where she epistemologically braids the aesthetics of undocumentedness to challenge immigration and migration policy and politics. She has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums across the globe, and her written work has been published internationally. She is presently residing on the unceded land of the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash peoples.