Panel features former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, James Nealon. The World Affairs Council of Maine in collaboration with the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and Mainers for Accountable Leadership will host a panel discussion on the recent increase in asylum seekers migrating from the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) to the United States. We will discuss the myriad factors contributing to migration as well as the role US foreign policy has played in the region over the past 50+ years. Panelists include Ambassador James Nealon; Professor Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz, Bates College; and Professor Gordon Adams, American University.

Virtual reality filmmaker Daniel Quintanilla, working with the Yarn Corporation,
will be in the gallery to share At the Periphery, a virtual experience that explores the often
paradoxical idea of "visibility" as it relates to the immigrant experience. In this virtual journey,
one is transported to spaces occupied temporarily or permanently by immigrant communities
in Maine: a seasonal blueberry camp, a community farm organized by refugees, a takeout
restaurant.

This event will be hosted in the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.

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Hosted by SPEEDWELL Projects, Barça/Barzak is a pop up shop featuring furniture by Senegalese artist Papa Mendy in conjunction with Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks, and Pathways. Each piece is handcrafted and made one-of-a-kind from repurposed wood sourced from traditional West African boats.

The canoe is legendary.
Noah used it to save humanity.
Westerners used it for four centuries for the slave trade.
My African brothers use it for clandestine immigration to the West.
Me I turn it into furniture as a sign of hope.

Alison's sources are often derived from literature and history. In her current body of work she has been combining disparate ideas concerning migrations, refugees, medical drawings, astronomy, architectural traces, and more. Visual representations of these interests appear as a shape shifting progression where one image morphs into another, changes but still holds the prior imprint.

Opening reception for Flight October 26, 6-8 pm at Speedwell Gallery.

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