Familias Separadas: Stories of Philadelphians

With our contemporary modes of communication, we don’t often think about distance as a barrier to seeing our loved ones. The global interconnectivity of email and social media means that pictures and stories of our family and friends who live on opposite coasts can pop up smilingly in our inbox and newsfeed, generating a sense of connection with those far away. There’s a comfort in the connectedness of our lives, a comfort that I often take for granted.

That ease of communication, that comfort in our instant connection, is something that those fleeing violence in their home countries, those facing deportation, and those incarcerated for trying to reach their families cannot count on. And Michelle Angela Ortiz’s five part piece, Familias Separadas, a part of Mural Arts’ month long Open Source exhibition, explores those timely themes. Looking at love, connection, and families separated by deportation, Ortiz powerfully showcases each story in locations throughout Philadelphia.

Last Thursday, Ortiz conducted a press conference in City Hall, in the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, to draw attention to Familias Separadas. The press conference had a fantastic set of speakers: Philadelphia’s Chief Cultural Officer Helen Haynes, Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden, Open Source curator Pedro Alonzo, JUNTOS Executive Director Erica Almiron, poet Julia Lopez, and artist Michelle Angela Ortiz. The speakers focused on the power of art, particularly the ways in which art can amplify the voices of those who have gone unheard.

As Ortiz spoke, she highlighted two of the stories of Familias Separadas sites that have been installed in the past week, the stories of Ana and Suyapa.