ART-235 PROJECT BRIEF 03
As Authored and Designed by Marla Antonella Gómez Carrillo, at the behest of Brigham Young University Idaho
Good afternoon, Dearest Brethren and collegiate peers alike. my most earnest hope is that you are to find the present contribution to this platform in exceptional health. Secondly and precedently, I just wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to express my most sincere gratitude unto each and every single one of you for the tremendous amount of moral, emotional and academic support that I have received from all of you in such a genuinely heartwarming and soul-bearing manner. It has truly been an immense privilege to study alongside each of you throughout the progression of this semester.
The current project brief that I wish to demonstrate through this publication consists of a primarily self-directed and paced activity whose objective was to effectively communicate and encapsulate the significance and urgency of a select social cause that has either had its common place of visibility in mainstream discourse or through the selection of a particular topic that still has remained underdiscussed in mainstream media outlets. Furthermore, we were thusly incentivized to and presented with the unique challenge to showcase not only the myriad of technical and artistic aptitudes that we have attained throughout the course of this semester and this project additionally provided a unique oppportunity to engage with the power of radical compassion and transformative artistry as a powerful and educational tool for social advocacy and as a powerful force for active change in the communication of complex intersectional ideas as well as through the evocation of lasting and memorable emotional responses stemming from the transformative community outreach that can be accomplished through a series of three conceptual posters which can convey each of the respective nuances and underlying themes narratively as well as thematically. By furthrmore highlighting these particular issues in a poster compoistion format, it can reach a much broader contextualization and spark meaningful discussions. In addition to the utilization of various symbological and thematic motifs, students have been ecouraged to additionally develop compelling narratives and calls to action which can accompany each of the three successive posters, effectively conveying and encapsulating the breadth of complexity of the societal issues and nuances of the social cause that the student in question has chosen to represent, inspiring prospective audiences to take concrete and proactive steps towards positive change.
Special emphasis is allocated to the inventiveness and uniqueness of the compositions, creating atmospheric and significant artworks that promote prompt and meaningful engagement and that can additionally reflect the students' artistic identity. Through this project, students additionally have the ooportunity to contribute to meaningful discussions and raise awareness about imperative systemic and societal issues.
The final delivered products will be presented within the sturcture of a PSA campaign ready to be diseminated and showcased across the Behance portofolio software and social media artistic identity promotion platform to maximize the level of impact and ouutreach.
In drawing inspiriation from various artistic methodologies such as rich symbolism, interactive elements and mixed-media experimentation, students will thusly conceptualize three distinctive posters which each tackle a different element or facet of their chosen social cause as emphasis shall be placed on inventively and uniquely creating a richly atmospheric and emotionally resonant and significant series of compositions which can be displayed on a wider scale. Additionally, students will additionallly conceptualize manners of prompt and meaningful engagement, proptiating an artistic identity that is entirely of their own construction.
Throughout the progressison of the aforementioned design process, we were additionally comissioned with the investigation and thurough collection of visual data, furthermore ensuring that the campaign can resonate with individuals hailing from various sociocultrual backgrounds, ideolgical and sociopolitical preferences and from diverse walks of life. Through sessions of collaborative brainstorming and exhilirating peer feedback, the feeling of active and supportive learning is fostered in a secure and accesible environment where students are additionally permitted refine their ideas and concepts. The Venezuelan diaspora comprises indivdiuals from various diverse ethnic, culttural, socioeconomic bakcgrounds. By advocating for the rights of Venezuelan as well as diverse refugees and immigrants, I endeavor to recognize all of the contributions that bicultural immigrants such as myself, can conrtribute to society as a whole. I additionally choose to advocate for the rights of Venezuelan refugees and immigrants such as myself, especially those whse lives have been interrupted or tragically cut short because of the senslessness of socioplitical dictatorial regimes, I additionally endeavor to promote a humanization, welcoming and proactive approach to the way in which immigrants are perceived in our society. The tremendous amount of personal experiences and cumulus of emotional weight that this project carries for me is profound as at times, I would even break down in tears thinking about my situation and somewhere along the way, I almost felt like giving up, but I knew that I chose this subject matter for a reason and the reason was shedding a light on a situation that has claimed the lives of thousands of people and I was almost among them. I wanted to utilize my artistry as a means to provide true visibility, advocacy and empathy to my community as well as to various marginalized and underrepresented communities not unlike my own.
Therefore, there have been many native and multicultural Venezuelan immigrants and refugees who have been marginalized and forefully displaced amid the diaspora that has only grown exponentially more since the rigged elections of 2013 where political representative and prominent law graduate who was then of great esteem and seemed to be a promising face for the opposition movement, "Henrique Capriles Radonski" went head to head against Nicolás Maduro Moros who was been the country's unrepenting Dictator for over a decade, having claimed the lives of many people who to their lack of resources in the country, soon became incapable of surviving and scavenging for what little food and scraps they could find amidst the terrible poverty and widespread scarecity that has since defined the capital city of Caracas Venezuela as the #1 most dangerous city in the world, as stated by an article in Forbes Magazine published in October of 2014, a spot that has since been lamentably maintained with not that much change in our situation. In spite of having the largest oil reserves in the world, Venezuela has seen the exponential collapse of its industry which is responsable for the vast majority government's revenue amongst other endeavors after years of terrible mismanagement and extorsion of public funds. As a result, the Encovi report estimated that the general Venzuelan Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P) which can be broadly defined as the totality of value added and created in the economy, decreased significantly by a rough 74% between a six year period spanning from 2014-2020.
This situation has resulted in the largest displacement crisis in Latin-American history as according to the United Nations, more than 7.71 million people have left the country since 2017. This mass exodus is driven by a combination of political instability, economic collapse and pervasive violence.
Conversely, in an article for insightcrime.org published in 2016, Caracas was also deemed "The Most Violent City In The World", a position that previously belonged to San Pedro, Sula in Honduras, a country that has also unfortunately confronted a similar situation politically and marking a horrifying period of the country (Venezuela's) history that had not experienced anything of that magnitude since the Juan Vicente Gómez Dictatorship of the early 20th century, a pivotal and terrible stage in the country's development that spanned from 1908-1935 which is also known as "La Dictadura Gomecista" or "La Época Gomecista." The BBC network reported last year that three in four Venezuelan nationals live in extreme or intersectional poverty and that one in three people struggle to find food and resources in today's political climate.
As the electoral period went on, the social climate started to become more hostile and the policies and legislations that were being implemented did not protect the fundamental human rights of the people as a democratic power. In fact, there was no democratic power. Furthemore, the media’s hyper -sensationalization and generalization of the public perception of Venezuelan refugees and immigrants has propitiated immensely harmful steoretypes and profoundly devastating and commonplace misinformation about Venezuelans, often portraying them as criminals as well as economic and political freeloaders. These erroneous notions, further fueled the tremendous xenophobia and discrimination that many of them can be confronted with on a daily basis. As a consequence of this, the breakdown of social support services, networks and economic hardships as well as near-to non-exitsent access to mental health services further exacerbate the crisis in Venezuela. Many Venezuelan nationals additionally struggle with their mental health in a significant manner with phenomenons and diagnoses of depression and complex PTSD akin to the experiences of War Veterans.
This horrible misinifromation and internalized bias further reinforces tremendously harmful and stereotypical biases which can damage the mental health of millions of Venezuelans and diverse refugees and immigrants in general.
Reading these poignant yet earth-shatteringly resonant articles was a seminal moment for me personally, as almost my entire family is from Caracas and many of us witnessed the accelerated and horrifying progression of the dictatorship firsthand as they lives of those that I once knew started to tally and dry up before my very eyes for more than eight years since I had immigrated there. For eight years of my life, I lived in front of the country's most prominent petroleum corporation PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela S.A) which was often the sight of some of the most brutal rounds of military violence and the most violent protests in the nation's capital, a place that was often surrounded by the corrupt national guard, an entity known for abducting innocent people and killing University students on sight if they so refused to stand down and in as much continued to vocalize their discontent and defiance of the regime. Many people from local High Schools who were around my age at the time were either left as collateral victims, physically tortured, malnourished or taken in front of their families in wagons and when when they were no longer of use to the Government, you can imagine what happened afterward, leading many people to live in a constant state of survivalism and understandably perpetual anxiety. Relationships between families soon became incredibly difficult as there would be many young men and women who as minors would find employment cleaning houses and remodeling work and would sell all of their belongings just to reunite with family members abroad. The cafeteria from my high school was perennially closed as my classmates and their families could barely afford to purchase food. Small commodities such as bottles of cold water for physical education and “pastelitos de queso” were supplemented but not in a widespread or generous manner as foods were heavily rationed and the bolivar fuerte (the Venezuelan currency) had been devalued many times.
As the tension of the 2013 election period escalated, I witnessed a distressing scene unfold before my very eyes. Neighboridng families, once affluent professionals in impeccably presseed suits and ties, now found themselves sifting through the garbage bags outside of my apartment building complex. These individuals who carried briefcases filled with books and doccuments for their professions, were now scavenging for scraps of meat amidst the refuse. What struck me to my very core was the stark reality that even those who appeared untouched by the hardships of the dictator0shops were reduced to this desperate act, sharing whatever morsels they could salvage with their children, whether grown or still in infancy. It was a sobering reminder that in the face of adversity there was no middle ground, no buffer from the harsh realities of the unfolding crisis. It is because of these challenges that Venezuelan refugees and diverse refugees oftentimes face a myriad of barriers to accesing to legal and essential services in host countries and many of us lack access to basic physical and psychiatric healthcare services and opportunities for employment. Furthermore, the absence of a comprehensive and unbiased legal framework for procuring the protection of human and refugee rights further amplifies and maximizes the Zenith of our precarious situation and leaves us vulnerable to physical, gender-based, emotional, cybernetic and economically xenophobic attacks and acts of intentional or internalized discrimination. Due to the tremendous amount of resource scarcity in the country, there existed a trading phenomenon known as "Trueque" which bore a striking resemblance to the bartering systems of pre-Hispanic America. In my community, many individuals turned to crowdfunding platforms such as "GoFundMe" and utilized local fundraising resources on social media platforms such as "Facebook" and "Twitter" as a means of survival. It was not uncommon to see people offering trade commodities such as 6 ounces of Harina Pan (the leading national brand of corn dough used for making "Arepas" , a traditional Venezuelan meal) in exchange for essential medications such as cancer treatments, hypertension medication, anti-depressants, fertility injections, or insulin.
Amid these challenges, creative censorship became a distressingly common occurence in Venezuela, particuarly targeting political prisoners, many of whom were arts and humanities students. Corageous lyricists, poets and muscians who in definance of the regime, used the tools at their disposal and their creative gifts as a means for collective liberation. Many Venezuelans have additionally endured the treacherous journey through the harsh jungles of Central America on foot, oftentimes encountering scenes reminiscent of a war zone. Some pregnant women have tragically endured miscarriages due to the immense stress of the journey that they had undergone, while beloved family members would corageously ask to be left behind so that their company could advance to their desired country in two days time. Some surviving members of the journey are tragically separated and taken to harsh refugee camps. In Scandanavian and Nordic European countries, Venezuelan refugees who are asylum seekers face strict limitations on their movements and interactions with outer society. They are confined to a small radius of 82 feet on average and prohibited from interacting with civilization until government officials can verify that they are at risk and therefore in need of the resolution of their legal status.
In the Netherlands and Sweden for example, asylum seekers, including Venezuelan refugees are often left to endure harsh weather conditions without sufficient support to purchase food and clothing outside of refugee settlements. This particular lack of assistance leaves Venezuelan refugee women particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence and feminicides as there are next to no regulations that support the privacy of refugees. Without financial assistance or the ability to work autonomously, Venezuelan refugee women oftentimes struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, clothing and personal hygene items that are essential to their stability, personal integrity and development forcing them to make difficult choices such as working as domestic house-workers and crop-farmers on the fields of the surrounding outskirts of the settlements that they inhabit as they are received with little to no payments for their services.
In late 2023, it was declared by a collaborative article for the IOM and UNHR that over 4.63 million Venezuelan expatriots and refugees experience several struggles to meet their basic needs across the Americas. In spite of various efforts by host countries to provide humanitarian aid for individuals from Venezuela, more than 4.63 million people still face difficulties accesing food, shelter, basic healthcare, formalized employment and academic resources in Latin-America and in the Caribbean at large. The latest assesment for the RMNA (or "THE REFUGEE AND MIGRANT NEEDS ANALYSIS") demonstrated that Venezuelan refugees and immigrants across diverse Latin-American countries lack stable livelihood opportunities, making it difficult for them to effectively contribute to their hosts' communities.
It was additionally determined by this study that seven in ten Venezuelan immigrants are likely to experience being victims of abuses such as the human trafficking trade, forced military recruitment, gender-based violence and academic discrimination. In addition to this, the report additionally finds that approximately 19% of Venezuelan refugee children and adolescents between the ages of nine and seventeen years old are denied the basic fundamental right to education in certain regions of almost 17 countries of Latin-America and over 15% of minors currently form part of the workforce out of necessity.
As more than 60% of Venezuelan refugees are legally doccumented as well as multi-cultural or mixed-race immigrants of Venezuelan ancestry, this security unfortunately does not ensure that they can live a dignified quality of life nor does it ensure that they will receive adecquate access to basic human resources, as the regularization of more constant stay-arrangements and incremental investments in long-term solutions and livelihoods are the key to diversifying the potential for self-reliance and belonging.
FINALIZED COMPOSITIONS AND ELEMENTAL/ THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTING ARTISTIC PORTFOLIO DEMONSTRATION:
Poster Composition I: (Typographic Poster): "A Stand Against The Senselessness of Dictatorships."
The respective pictographic image and composition is additionally immensely rich and complex with color palettes that are evocative of the richly provocative symbolism and depth of the situation that is unfortunately being experienced by Venezuelan immigrants such as myself and my family. Originally, I had included the visual motifs of vairous purple ghosts that symbolize the malevolence of governmental officials and the sanguinaryand brutalistic military regime that Venezuelan nationals are currently confronted with on a daily basis, representing the institutional evils of poverty and immense resource scarecity. I was additionally told by my wonderful Professor that although the Ghosts in question added depth to the atmosphere of the sociopolitical crisis, they did not fit cohesively with the stylistic identity and sensibilities of the composition in question and thusly their final inclusion was not as necessary and as the creative process unfolded, it became apparent that simplifying the imagery and maintaining a clear and cohesive focus on the typographic and secondary visual elements in the foreground was advisbale. This decision further permitted the flow of concision and momentum, allowing the space for clearer and more specific representation methodologies as employed within the context of the messages conveyed within the composition.
Chosen Captioned Message: "The only ones who can put an end to the senselessness of dictatorships are those who stand with refugees."
Poster Composition II: (Typographic Handmade Materials): "A Silent Voice: Tales of Diverse Immigrants (The Perilous Journey: In Search of A Place of Peace)."
Chosen Captioned Message: "Your country could be the only peaceful place that they could ever know."
The present pictographic evidence of the composition within its first iteration, originally depicted the psychologically riveting and affecting image of a group of young multicultural immigrants hailing from various sociocultural backgrounds and that additionally are confronted with the harrowing choice to leave their respective countries of origin. Although they may be weary of the long joruney ahead, they are very much optimistic about what the future can bring them. The respective individuals that I have depicted are representative of a young Kenyan or West-African Music Professor, an Indigenous Artist, a Syrian engineer and an Israelí-Venezuelan immigrant. These individuals had originally been designed with their own respective characteristics that are reflective of their unique cultures and personalities. As the process soon came to evolve, I was advised to only leave the typographic and secondary visual elements as presented in the foreground.
Poster Composition III: (Designer's Choice Poster): "For where is home, if we have none?" authored by Marla Antonella Gómez Carrillo.
This particular composition became of the most emotionally harrowing and visceral compositions that I have ever made throughout the progression of this project as it represents a tremendous amount of my autobiographical components of this particular project. When I was fourteen years old, I immigrated for the second time in my life as I had originally immigrated from the United States to Venezuela where my family is originally from and where I learned the Spanish language and then at the age of fourteen I immigrated later on as a Venezuelan-American refugee.
As I come from a family of six people and only four of us were able to immigrate first, we packed four lifetimes worth of our memories, identities and belongings into a single luggage. This profoundly visceral symbol of my life’s journey became the catalytical vehicle and primary motivator for my project. In the foreground, the colors of the Venezuelan flag are displayed as an arm clasping on to a luggage which holds an individual’s life story. My Professor additionally advised me to highlight the meaning of this particular composition as a luggage or suitcase can be a powerful cyclical symbol that can represent the different transformations and changes that can occur in the life of an individual.
As refugee crises oftentimes interect with complex sociopolitical dynamics including those of identity politics, belonging and media representation, it was fundamental for me to approach this design process not only from an autobiogrpahical and truth-telling perspective, but also from a very human angle examining how various examples of successful PSA campaigns can leverage and fully successfully navigate cultural themes and nuances, further informing the development of designs that are inclusive, respectful and highly empowering. By furthermore integrating immigrants and refugees hailing from diverse backgrounds, we can contribute to equitable and more positive representations of immigrants in mainstream discourse and media. This passionately empathetic and purposeful approch to the creative process, not only eensures that our designs raise awareness about refugee crises, but also foster empathy, understanding and solidarity amongst audiences haling from various sociodemographic divisions, groups and factions. Ultimately, my fundamental goal was to create designs that not only inform but also inspire action and promote positive change.
In conclusion, the multifaceted challenges faced by Venezuelan refugees and immigrants, underscore the urgent necessity for compassionate and informed responses from policy-makers, legislators and society at large. The staggering numbers of individuals forced to flee their homeland due to sociopolitical instability, economic collapse and pervasive violence, further highlight the tremendous severity of the crisis as well as the immense human toll that it has exacted over the course of the last 25 years since the election of the late dictator Chávez as well as that of his successor Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The intersectionality of causalities and factors of influence such as identity politics, media representation and cultural nuances further emphasizes the tremendous importance of approaching this issue with profound sensitivity and respect. Through artistic expression, advocacy efforts and community engagement, we have the power to amplify the voices of Venezuelan refugees and immigrants, challenge stereotypes and foster a much greater undertstanding and empathy. By additionally centering their experiences and highlighting their resilience, we can conrtibute to more equitable and positive representations of immigrants in mainstream discourse. As we have navigated the complexities of the Venezulean dictatorial regime and humanitarian crisis, we must commit ourselves to the widespread promotion of human rights, dignity and justice for all by working towards building a more compassionate and inclusive world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
I dedicate this project to absolutely all of the people of Venezulea and to those whose parents and family members hail from Venezuela much like my own family. This exhibition is also a heartfelt tribute to all of my fellow first-generation Venezuelan-Americans who like me, harbor many dreams, hopes and aspirations for a better life and a safer future. To those who have felt a lack of belonging, misunderstood, alientated and hopeless, I want to convey a message of resilience and perseverance. Never give up on yourself. Rise above the challenges imposed by the circumstances of your coragoeus journey. Though it may sometimes feel as though you are invisible or unseen, know that I profoundly understand you, validate you and see you. I believe in each and every single one of you wholeheartedly. Coming from humble beginnings, we posesses the unique ability to appreciate the abudnace of blessings yet to come for our people. Through this project, I aim to uplift and empower those in my community who have felt marginalized, downtrodden and defeated by life. I have come to represent and vindicate the full spectrum of these human experiences. We are not statistics, we are human beings deserving of compassion, love and reciprocity. Aim to celebrate your diverse characteristics and the richness of your personhood. Like many of you, I embarked upon this journey at the age of fourteen, carrying nothing except for the sheer will to make each opportunity for growth yield. I am living proof of the fact that we are far greater than what we suffer and that our toils make us more capable, emotionally empathetic and authentic leaders, trailblazers and change-makers. This is your story and this is my story.
