Guatemalan Forced Migration
Photos by Manuel Gil
In collaboration with writer Óscar Gil-Garcia
September 29 – November 30, 2007
ArtNight Reception event: Saturday, September 29, 4:00 – 8:30pm
1639 18th Street, Santa Monica
18th Street Arts Center proudly presents “Guatemalan Forced Migration,” a new photo essay by Manuel Gil in collaboration with writer Óscar Gil-Garcia, showing September 29-November 30, 2007. The images of Guatemalan forced migrants living in Mexico will open as part of 18th Street’s quarterly ArtNight open house event on September 29th from 4-8pm, featuring gallery and open studio exhibits and free musical performances.
“Guatemalan Forced Migration” consists of a series of photographs of Guatemalan forced migrants that challenge the normative approach to photographing refugees by mainstream media and international humanitarian organizations that stereotype women as domestics and men as bread winners. Manuel Gil’s photography, created in collaboration with writer Oscar Gil-Garcia, explores gender relations within contemporary society and transnational migrant communities. The project is a timely study that provides a critical response to the current U.S. anti-immigrant sentiment by increasing awareness of how forced migrants play a central role in the formal and informal labor economic sectors in host societies.
Manuel Gil has studied fine art and photography at San Francisco Art Institute and Brooks Institute of Photography. He received awards from the San Francisco Art Institute, Photographer’s Forum and others for his excellence in photography.
Oscar Gil-Garcia, a Ph.D. Doctoral Candidate at the University of California at Santa Barbara, collaborated with his brother to compile the series of photographs and work with him on the research of the migrant societies and their relationship to contemporary communities in Mexico and America. He received his M.A. from UC Santa Barbara and B.A in Sociology from Vassar College and has worked as a Fellow at various research institutes investigating refugee studies.
