JAVA Mar-2019

IMMIGRATION AND THE ARTS
By Robert Sentinery
BUZZ
In the midst of the border wall debate, we look at how immigration impacts the
Valley by specifically featuring artists who hail from other countries. There is no
doubt that certain cities become artist magnets (think Paris in the 1920s), and
the result is a cross-pollination of ideas and culture that ultimately makes for a
thriving community. The four artists featured this month currently call Phoenix
home but come from around the globe – Mexico, Iraq, Bolivia, and India.
Gennaro Garcia was born in the Mexican city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora,
just across the border from Yuma. He grew up poor but with an artistic eye and
a knack for making things. When Garcia became old enough to work, he helped
with his family’s food cart, eventually building it into a brick and mortar. But he
knew there had to be more for him.
He came to the U.S. with nothing except his dual talents for making art and
running restaurants, and he built a strong career encompassing both his
homeland and his adopted one. Garcia’s artwork expands beyond traditional
painting to ceramics, sculpture, and murals (many in high-profile restaurants
here, on the West Coast, and in the Mexican art mecca of San Miguel de
Allende). He has representation at half a dozen galleries across both countries
and is co-owner of Taco Chelo restaurant in the heart of Roosevelt Row (see
“The Art and Life of Gennaro Garcia,” p. 8).
Bassim Al Shaker’s life is already well documented in sources like The New York
Times. Having escaped persecution in his native Baghdad, Iraq, he found asylum
here in the desert with the help of ASU’s visiting artist program. He has shown
his work in prestigious international venues including the Venice Biennale and
the Biennale of Sydney.
Al Shaker has started a new venture, as a way of giving back to the city that
welcomed him and his family – the Green Leaf Gallery. Located in a building
adjacent to the Phoenix Art Museum that houses luxury apartments, it will help
fill the void of professional galleries that represent the many talented contemporary
artists in Phoenix (see “Bassim Al Shaker Opens Green Leaf Gallery,” p. 12).
Carolina Aranibar-Fernandez is here by way of a year-long fellowship with
ASU. Growing up in her native Bolivia, she experienced the Cochabamba
Water War firsthand, where a California company took control of the city’s
water supply and jacked up rates. This incident continues to inform her
artwork. Her current project explores the impact of copper mining in Arizona
and the ways in which private companies handle our natural resources (see
“Artist Carolina Aranibar-Fernandez:From Bolivia to Arizona and Beyond,” p. 30).
Nick Oza came to study in the U.S. from his native Mumbai, India, and his
talent behind the camera kept him here. The recipient of numerous awards,
including two Pulitzer Prizes, for his work with the Arizona Republic, Oza has
achieved a career pinnacle. His current body of work covering border issues and
the migrant caravan brings a great degree of humanity to a complex issue (see
“Photojournalist Nick Oza: Documenting Life on the Border,” p. 34).