A powerful Fort Collins art show highlights the words and portraits of immigrants in Northern Colorado

By In The NoCo,

Published September 26, 2024 at 5:35 AM MDT

Ways To Subscribe

Three young women look at photographs on a mobile phone. The Castro sisters named Vivi, Kathia, and Diana are all leaning close to each other to see the phone, which the woman in the middle is holding. They're selecting photos at a workshop for the Querida Familia project. — The Castro sisters 鈥� Vivi, Kathia, and Diana 鈥� look through their photographs at a workshop for the Querida Familia project.

Shared experiences that echo across different cultures... and the unique perspectives that people from different places bring to our community.

An art show on display in Fort Collins explores those ideas through poems, letters and portraits of immigrants living in Northern Colorado.

Curator Brigid McAuliffe collected images and writings from people representing thirty-eight countries for two projects that make up the show. features members of families from Mexico who now live in Fort Collins who wrote letters and recollections prompted by photos of significant moments in their lives.

And in , participants created poems reflecting how they have been shaped by where they鈥檙e from.

The dual exhibit marks the latest installment of 鈥� a series of art and storytelling programs focused on immigrants and refugees, that started in 2012. McAuliffe says this show feels especially timely, as the topic of illegal immigration drives political debate during a presidential election year.

Host Erin O鈥橳oole visited the gallery at the , to talk with McAuliffe and two contributors to the exhibit 鈥� Diana Castro and Rookhan Sherzad.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. It runs through September 29.

A young man with dark hair wearing black slacks, a black T shirt, and white and black Nike shoes, sits in a chair. In the photo is an excerpt from a poem he wrote that is in his native language. It reads: "I am Rookhan Sherzad. I am from the worn hand-carved wooden door of my childhood home in Afghanistan. I am from the aroma of freshly baked bolaney and the lively chatter of family meals. I am from the cherished memory of playing cricket with friends in the narrow street of my hometown." — Rookhan Sherzad鈥檚 portrait and poem from the project *Hyphens and Hemispheres: The Places We Come From.*

暗黑爆料

A powerful Fort Collins art show highlights the words and portraits of immigrants in Northern Colorado