For three nights, Menlo Park-based photographer Mark Tuschman will be at Art Ventures Gallery in downtown Menlo presenting photographs he took as part of a project he calls Immigrants are US – Immigration: Photography and Stories of Courage and Resilience.
“This project came about from my sense of the dire need to increase understanding of and empathy towards immigrants and to move us, as a country, towards a more humane, compassionate, and integrated society,” he said.
“For the past year I have interviewed and photographed close to 100 immigrants spanning the entire spectrum: from the undocumented, to those seeking asylum, to DACA recipients, and finally, to those with full citizenship.
“My work focuses on communities being discriminated against by our current administration and includes people of all skills, from those doing manual labor to those highly skilled in medicine, law, and hi-tech.
“Knowing that those who succumb to negative narratives about immigrants may have had few opportunities to engage with them, I wanted to bring the breadth, depth, and complexity of immigrant experiences and contributions forward through photographs and stories, giving people access in a way that they may not have otherwise had. After all, one can argue about politics or even disregard facts but one cannot argue a person’s story.”
The exhibit runs Thursday, May 16, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm; Friday, May 17, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm; Saturday, May 18, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. There will be presentations from many of the immigrants who have participated in the project, and Mark will give a short talk as well.
Art Ventures Gallery is located at 888 Santa Cruz Avenue.
Top photo by Mark Tuschman; used with permission; photograph of Mark Tuschman by Irene Searles (c)2013
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