Reassuring Dispositions
03/31/20
By Joseph Josué Mora
I am used to having a really busy schedule, and the great changes the world is taking have affected the way I work in the studio and teach my classes. As this pandemic took me away from my work spaces, it hit a pause on my life. I am spending time at home and allowing myself to do more self-care: I am having dinners with my whole family, seeing all the cute things my dog does, and napping more. I think this quarantine period has allowed a lot of people to pause and possibly restart different aspects of their lives. These changes have also raised more awareness about many political issues. Most, if not all, of these issues coincide with and affect undocumented people.
Joseph Josué Mora, Reassuring Disposition #1, 2020, digital sketch for a future intaglio print
Before the start of the quarantine, the democratic primary elections were taking place and everyone was focused on picking who to vote for in the 2020 presidential elections. One of my ongoing collaborative projects, Undocumented Projects, recently finished its second run of voting wristbands. These voting wristbands are intended for disenfranchised groups of people who do not have the privilege to vote. The 2020 presidential election is another opportunity to make changes for overlooked and targeted communities, but those same communities are not allowed to have a say in the elections.
As an undocumented person and DACA recipient, if I could vote, I would. A lot of people in my situation feel the same, so in 2016, Undocumented Projects made wristbands for those who could not vote and collaborated with Aram Han Sifuentes’ Official Unofficial Voting Booth Stations. This year we changed the design of the wristbands to make them apply better for the disenfranchised, but kept the same message. A recent change is that the wristbands are now available as tyvek wristbands, just like the ones one received at the polls. We will also have a downloadable PDF version of the wristband that people can print and distribute. As the 2020 presidential election date approaches, we plan on having the tyvek wristbands available for online order, free of charge and shipping. These wristbands will also be in Sifuentes’ second electoral intervention, Voting Kits for the Disenfranchised, this year.
IF WE COULD, WE WOULD! 2020 voting wristbands by Undocumented Projects.
Click here for a downloadable PDF of the wristbands.
During these times, I have had the unusual opportunity to slow down my everyday life. Isolation has forced me to change the way I work in the studio and in the classroom. For the past two weeks, I taught my high school art classes through an online platform. We were getting ready to start working with abstract painting and linoleum printmaking, but in the new conditions, I had to quickly change my lesson plans into graphic design projects. These health precautions, such as the “stay at home” order and social distancing, have also changed the way I make my own artwork. My shared studio space with Sarita Garcia is closed because it is located in a Chicago public park field house. We were able to get a few materials out so I could work on my art at home, but working at home is not the same, especially when your whole immediate family is at home, too. In this scenario, I have started to experiment with digital drawings and sketches, just like my students.
Artwork made by Mora’s high school students during online learning.
This health crisis has brought more attention to issues that already concerned us. Right now, I feel that undocumented people are more overlooked than ever. This community is vulnerable not only to the virus, but to many of the necessary precautions the state and the country have taken: restaurants that employ us are closing, we do not benefit from the economic relief plans even though we pay taxes, and we are potentially having DACA removed in June. These are uncertainties that undocumented people and families experience every day, but now they have been heightened due to the changes implemented by the US government and society during the pandemic.
Joseph Josué Mora, Reassuring Disposition #2, 2020, digital sketch for future intaglio print.
I am focusing on the process of gaining resilience and overcoming these times of uncertainty as an informed, undocumented family member. Most undocumented people live with uncertainty in our jobs, as students, and as normal people being targeted anywhere in the US, but despite all this, the undocumented community has grown out of the shadows and continues to support their families, culture, and this country. These drawings represent that strength to move forward. I hope that people find that same strength during these uncertain times that will fade.
Joseph Josué Mora, Reassuring Disposition #3, 2020, digital sketch for future intaglio print.
I think it is important to ask for help when you need it. I know it can be uncomfortable, but this is something I am also slowly learning to do. I am also learning to not feel guilty because I am not being productive. It’s as critical to continue to advocate and support others, and to be an ally, especially during these times where some people are more disenfranchised than usual. What I love about Chicago is that there is a great sense of community advocacy, with initiatives like Axis Labs, that uses forms of art to fight for issues that affect out communities. People are creating online fundraisers to support undocumented people, artists, restaurant workers, and more. Artists are using their skills to create supplies that hospitals need, and digital art to raise awareness of injustices during this health crisis.
Now is the time to be compassionate and giving.
For more visit:
Instagram: @josephjosuemora
Instagram: @undocumentedprojects
Joseph Josué Mora is a multidisciplinary artist and educator, Mexican-born and based in Chicago. Mora is an alum of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts. His work focuses on portraying and understanding his reality as an undocumented immigrant in the United States through his politicized identity. He also asks questions concerning immigration, disenfranchisement, and work ethic through his practice. Currently his work is focused on using art handling materials and cues to mirror back issues of immigration, creating parallels between the art and political world. As a collaborative artist, Mora co-organizes Undocumented Projects. Undocumented Projects focus on using printmaking and public art to create awareness and resources for undocumented issues. Mora was awarded the Caxton Artists Book Grant and SAIC’s Student Government’s Idea Grant to help start the production of the Undocumented Projects Survival Kits in 2018.
