ONE Archives to host discussion on undocumented queer artists, activists

Panelists participating in the virtual event “(Un)Documented: Artists, Activists, and Archives” will explain that being undocumented means a person lacks certain governmental papers. It doesn’t mean the person is invisible.

“(Un)Documented: Artists, Activists, and Archives” will address U.S. immigration related to documentation and representation and its intersection with LGBTQ individuals.

The discussion will take place October 1 from 5-6:30 p.m. PST on Zoom.

“(Un)Documented: Artists, Activists, and Archives” is a collaboration between the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries and In Plain Sight, a coalition of 80 artists united to create artwork that’s dedicated to abolishing immigrant detention and the United States’ culture of incarceration.

Undocumented Tales

Armando Ibanez, center, is the writer and director of the web series of “Undocumented Tales.” The series follows Fernando Gutierrez, who works as a waiter and navigates life in Los Angeles as an undocumented gay man. Photo: “Undocumented Tales”

Armando Ibañez is one of the coalition artists. He identifies as a Latinx queer filmmaker and activist. The 38-year-old Los Angeles resident was born in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, and has been living in the United States 20 years.

Ibañez is the director and writer of the YouTube series “Undocumented Tales.” It follows the journey of an undocumented Mexican living in Los Angeles who is queer and works as a server in a restaurant

The panelists on “(Un)Documented: Artists, Activists, and Archives” will address  several topics:

  • What role do artists, activists, archives, and communities play in recording history, pushing for reform, and fighting for rights?
  • How do we create place and space for our communities?
  • How do we record this history without putting individuals at risk?

Here are the panelists:

  • Ubaldo Boido and Craig Scott have been partners five years. They live in Palm Springs, where they have established their home as an LGBTQ migrant safe space. Boido is a gay, Latinx activist, and an artist whose work focuses on creating spaces for queer people in Latinx and people of color communities, and performance art as installation. Scott is a gay activist and advocate with Democratic Socialist ideals. His work  explores immigration justice reform, political dissent, and gay archives. Boido and Scott also have created Desert Support for Asylum Seekers, an organization that assists people in ICE detention through pen pal programs and legal advocacy. The group also helps people in Mexicali awaiting entry into ICE custody.
  • Paolo Riveros is a transgender, visual artist from Lima, Perú. He began his career in photography, documenting Los Angeles nightlife, and developed into photojournalism covering social justice movements. His work intersects immigration and LGBTQ issues, documenting critical moments and the people behind the movements.
  • Guadalupe Rosales is a Los Angeles-based artist who received an MFA from Chicago’s School of the Art Institute in 2016. She was the 2019 recipient of the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship and 2020 USA Artist Award Fellow. Rosales is the founder and operator of Veteranas & Rucas and Map Pointz, two digital archives on Instagram with over 250k subscribers.Also, Rosales runs and preserves a physical archive containing vernacular photographs, flyers, magazines, and other types of ephemera of the 1990s connected to Latinx youth culture in Southern California. Guided by an instinct to create counter-narratives, Rosales tells the stories of communities often underrepresented in public record and official memory. By preserving artifacts and memorabilia, Rosales’ reframes marginalized histories, offering platforms of self-representation. 
  • Julio Salgado is the co-founder of DreamersAdrift and project manager for CultureStrike. His status as an undocumented, queer artivist has fueled his visual art, which depicts key individuals and moments of the DREAM Act and migrant rights movement. Undocumented students and allies across the country have used Salgado’s artwork to call attention to the youth-led movement.

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

Share This

Share this post with your friends!