Vermont Folklife Center Education » Vision & Voice » Exhibitions » Invisible Odysseys
Vision & Voice Documentary Workspace
Presents:
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Invisible Odysseys
Art by Mexican Farm Workers in Vermont
Vermont Folklife Center
Vision & Voice Documentary Workspace
88 Main Street, Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-4964
February 3, 2012 – April 28, 2012
From February 3 – April 28, 2012 the Vision & Voice Documentary Workspace of the Vermont Folklife Center will host Invisible Odysseys: Art by Mexican Farmworkers in Vermont.
Among the most recent arrivals to Vermont communities are Mexican farmworkers. These workers have made harrowing and costly journeys to reach Vermont, where their labor is vital to the dairy industry and, by extension, the Vermont landscape. Yet most such workers have no formal immigration status. Risking deportation if they are seen or heard, they remain invisible. Having made an epic journey of thousands of miles, they often live in the narrow confines of a single farmhouse and milking parlor, dependent on others for even basic needs.While Vermonters have recently had some opportunities to discuss and reflect on this situation, Mexican farmworkers themselves have rarely had a voice in that conversation. Yet they have amazing stories to tell. The Invisible Odysseys exhibit is a collection of those stories, rendered in sculpture as well as words.
Organized over the last four years by Vermont artist and writer B. Amore and a team of volunteers, Invisible Odysseys is a collection of dioramas made by Mexican farmworkers here in Vermont. These tell the personal stories of their journeys, their isolated and grueling work here in Vermont, and their perspectives on two cultures. Above all, the exhibit makes visible a hidden community, and makes audible a set of voices that Vermonters have heard little of.
For Invisible Odysseys Amore provided farmworkers with paints, brushes, glue, and other materials, and the simple offer of a forum to express their ingenuity and voice. Beyond that, the fourteen artist-workers who participated have taken the project in their own directions, each telling their own story in their own way.
The opening reception for Invisible Odysseys: Art by Mexican Farmworkers in Vermont will be held at the Center’s Vision & Voice Documentary Workspae on Friday, February 3, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
Links to Additional Exhibit Resources
- B. Amore :: link
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