Graphic design students at La Roche College have taken the immigrant experience and turned it into a hands-on exhibition.
“Their intent was that their colleagues, students, peers would experience this simulation and have an experience similar to what someone would have who was coming from the southern border country,” said Sister Michele Bisbey, professor of religious studies at La Roche.
The "Shared Border, Shared Dreams" exhibit starts with participants taking one of several dream cards, which have statements on them such as “getting a job,” “getting an education” and “being accepted.”
“They travel the simulation looking at their dreams looking at their dreams through the eyes of someone from across the border,” Bisbey said. “If they were able to fulfill their dreams, they put them up on a wall that said ‘dreams attained,’ if not they tear them in half and put them on a wall that said ‘dream unattainable.’"
Bisbey said the student designers were asked to examine their own dreams and then decide which would be shared by people in other parts of the world.
“We’re not attempting, in any way, to tell students what to think, but to facilitate an experience whereby they can think about these things themselves and decide where they stand,” she said. “And if they know where they stand, they can put their energy and their thinking behind that to make the world a better place.”
The exhibit also includes a timeline and history of the US/Mexico border, and the walk-through simulations are based on real cases of undocumented immigrants.
"Shared Border, Shared Dreams" is open to the public and will run through Saturday in La Roche’s Wright Library.
