This section features powerful artwork created by and for undocumented individuals, highlighting their stories, resilience, and creativity. Through visual expression, these works challenge invisibility and celebrate the strength of immigrant communities.
Favianna Rodriguez Giannoni
Favianna is an Oakland-based interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and entrepreneur whose work explores themes of migration, gender justice, climate change, racial equity, and sexual freedom. Rooted in joy and healing, her creative practice challenges dominant cultural narratives and long-held myths. A powerful speaker. Her art is deeply personal, reflecting her journey as a woman of color who embraces transformation through creative expression.
Alexa Vasquez
As an undocumented trans immigrant artist whose work explores the layered challenges of navigating xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia. Her project, Undocumented Times/Queer Yearnings, offers an intimate look at coming of age as undocumented, queer, and trans in Southern California, turning personal experience into a source of empowerment and healing.
Cinthya santos-briones
Cinthya Santos Briones is an interdisciplinary artist and educator of Nahua Indigenous heritage. Her work combines photography, storytelling, and community engagement to address social issues. In Living in Sanctuary, she documents undocumented immigrants seeking refuge in U.S. faith spaces in response to deportations. The project uses oral histories and portraits to connect the sanctuary movement with global liberation theologies, highlighting spirituality and resistance.
PATRICK MARTINEZ
Patrick Martinez uses familiar warning signs and neon storefront aesthetics to create art that challenges ICE’s aggressive and unlawful tactics. His work transforms signs into tools of resistance, urging empathy for immigrants and calling for social reform over fear-based scapegoating. Through bold visual language, Martinez highlights the deeper truths behind immigration and the need for systemic change.
Edel rodriguez
Edel Rodriguez, a Cuban-born writer and illustrator, uses his art to confront systemic oppression and social injustice. In his 2018 piece Strangers, he explores mass migration from the Global South and the dehumanization of asylum seekers, often portrayed as threats or “boat people.” Rodriguez critiques the U.S.’s shifting stance on immigration, once accepting despite risks, now gripped by fear and unwilling to offer refuge.
Greg segal
Gregg Segal’s Undaily Bread series, created in partnership with the UNHCR, documents Venezuelan refugees by photographing them surrounded by their few possessions. The powerful images reveal the harsh realities of displacement, from limited food supplies to worn-out clothing. Each photo is accompanied by a detailed caption sharing the family’s personal journey. Segal aims to evoke empathy through visual storytelling, emphasizing that photography can convey the emotional weight of refugee experiences more effectively than statistics. The project is an extension of his earlier work, Daily Bread, which focused on children and their daily meals worldwide.
Dreams without borders
Dreams Without Borders 2.0 was hosted on February 24th, 2025 by The Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff (MOCAF), which was an event that highlighted the untold stories of undocumented immigrants in northern Arizona.
Local artists displayed five photographic art installations that explored the past and future of immigrants’ lives. Additionally, the Catch Fire Movement and Northern Arizona Immigration Legal Services (NAILS) were the leaders of the event and included commentary on how allies can donate their time or money to support their respective causes.
Catch Fire Movement advocates for policies that are rooted in human rights and justice, whereas NAILS focuses on the legal services met with high ethical standards for immigrants.
UNDOCUNIFIED 