By Ruxandra Looft
Ruxandra Looft is a freelance writer and editor based in Des Moines, Iowa. You can learn more about her work on her website and follow her on Twitter @SimplyBike.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and ISU professor Dennis Chamberlin is showing Voices of Immigration at the Gallery in the Round in Ames, Iowa. The exhibit is small, offering a handful of images coupled with words magnified to the size of the neighboring photographs. Both words and images convey a somber mood, highlighting what one goes into the exhibit already expecting: immigration in Iowa, like in any other place, is fraught with obstacles, sentiments of xenophobia, and a sense of loss and despair.
The Gallery in the Round is a part of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames. The exhibit is housed in the church’s upstairs space, tucked between comfortable seating areas, a children’s nursery, a cozy library, and huge windows overlooking the church garden. The clean and inviting space builds a stark contrast to the writing on the wall: “There are some that really, truthfully tell you they don’t want you here,” and “you don’t belong here.”
I went to the exhibit with a sense of apprehension, as a foreigner and first generation immigrant. I took with me my young daughter with whom I openly and shamelessly speak my native language (only once have I been confronted with an “but how will she learn English?” and that was in Ohio). I admit to viewing the exhibit with subjective eyes yet I also found myself removed from the experiences offered by Chamberlin’s subjects.
I left thinking about the vastly diverse nature of the “immigrant experience.” About how skin color, education, gender, sexuality, and class intersect with the local culture to create unique stories that cannot be lumped under a collective voice of immigration. Fittingly enough, Chamberlin uses the plural “voices” to offer his narrative, yet even his project only touches on the multitude of stories that could be told by immigrants in Iowa.
The photoexhibit does present a good starting point for an important discussion: What are the markers that allow some to pass while others suffer? How, if at all, can the shared attribute of being an immigrant bring people together when the spectrum of experience is so broad and diverse? And what can be done to educate others about the lives behind those voices?
(source: from the artist’s website)
Voices of Immigration is an exhibit of images and words by Dennis Chamberlin, currently open for viewing at the Gallery in the Round, 1015 Hyland Avenue, Ames, Iowa. The artist’s reception will take place on Sunday, Sep. 16, from 2-5pm. For more details, see the artist’s website.
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[...] to my foreignness rather than acquiescing to that perceived judgment and altering my behavior. And while I know that our state is not free of xenophobia, I truly have not experienced much of it personally at this point in my life (as in: since I lost [...]
This looks very interesting. It’s a bit sad though.
In a way, I am quite happy that New Zealand has such a strong immigration culture and is, officially, a bilingual nation (xenophobes can’t really say “speak English” or they’d hear back “speak Maori!”). That makes me more comfortable about speaking Portuguese. It is not uncommon for people here to speak in their native language be it Maori, Mandarin, Korean, Fiji Indian, Tongan, Samoan, French, English, Spanish…
On the other hand, I can understand that listening to a language you can’t understand can be perceived as threatening by some people. But a diverse society should be more flexible and tolerant of linguistic and cultural differences. I guess it might depend on whether that society is aware of its diversity or not.
I just re-read my comment and I realize it might sound like NZ is very tolerant and immigrants don’t face such issues here. Unfortunately, that is less and less true and I do feel my experience would be different if I didn’t look or sound as I do!
I am aware that the fact that my English is spoken at a native level but without a particular accent and my skin colour is not too dark, but not too white either, means that I am tolerated well amongst Pakeha, Maori and other Pasifika cultures. People can’t really tell where I’m from and I have noticed that people do stare at me more here than in Europe, especially when I’m with my husband. It can be awkward sometimes but they don’t do it in a threatening way. It just seems like they are trying to figure out where I’m from.
The story is a bit different for people from parts of Asia or with darker skin tones. There have been some stories on the news about fears that the Chinese will take over some business areas with their language, and there is still stigma around Samoans, and other Pasifika cultures.
At the surface, things seem well here but there is quite a lot of racism laying about, lurking.
Hey Rita, Thanks for your comment. I am also from New Zealand and an immigrant of Indian descent, thanks for clarifying your comment. I am wary of romanticizing the multicultural nature of New Zealand. As someone who passes for a ‘good immigrant’ i.e. assimilated people often feel that it is OK to say hideously racist things about other people/groups to me. Including ranting about not hearing English anywhere any more. I think the danger in NZ is that on the surface everything seems so hunky dory, so people find it easy to minimise the experiences others have.