Off the Wall

A passenger ship. A fence. Superman. A handprint. A pistol. A truck. Winding paths, McDonald’s, and a weeping figure on a horse.

In Holy Cross’s GESSO Student Art Gallery in the lower level of Hogan Campus Center, the exhibition Crossing Borders draws these disparate images together to express the struggles, hopes, and troubles of the immigration experience in the United States. Created by nine student artists, the show examines problems both past and present to portray the ideals of immigration against the sometimes cruel realities.

The students in the studio art class Drawing as a Visual Narrative explored the theme of immigration through a variety of images, but entirely in the medium of black paper cut outs. The class examines visual storytelling with an emphasis on contemporary narrative art. On display through April 16, Crossing Borders considers the problems of both the past and present.

Works by Emily Chalko ’08, Christopher Gorczyca ’07, Elizabeth Hylton ’07, Aislinn Kelly ’07, Bridget Kluger ’08, Brett Leonard ’07, Thanh Nguyen ’10, Ahmed Pirzai ’08, and Santiago Rodao ’07 are on display.

The exhibition grew out of personal, social, and artistic inspirations. Led by Susan Schmidt, associate professor of visual arts, the students tapped into both firsthand and public issues for their artwork. The idea for silhouetted forms came from the work of Kara Walker, a contemporary artist who works in silhouette wall installations to examine race relations.

It was also Schmidt’s hope that students would “learn how art can address a social issue, and how immigration can be distilled into visual symbols that do justice to the complexity of the immigrant experience.”

She added, “These symbols are multi-referential and viewers can draw their own conclusions. I hope that Holy Cross students slow down to look for awhile, and realize how closely these border crossings touch our community.”

Student Emily Chalko’s inspiration grew out of her family’s Irish heritage. “My grandfather’s parents each came over from Ireland alone as teenagers,” she says. “They each found their way to Portland, Maine, to relatives who had preceded them.”

Reflecting on her family’s efforts to remain connected with their homeland, Chalko says, “My great grandparents led a very social household with traditional Sunday parties open to friends and neighbors. Their children played music and my great grandmother made root beer. Since many of their friends were also Irish immigrants, these open houses were an important way to stay connected to their traditions, and, as their children grew and developed their own tastes, to celebrate American popular culture.”

For Bridget Kluger, the image that stood out most to her was that of the massive passenger ship, attempting to transport the hopeful across harsh waters to the promise of a better life.

“The image of a ship really represents for many people the influx of immigration to the United States during the Ellis Island years,” she says. “I think the class really just hopes that the Holy Cross community will take the time to think about the themes and ideas the exhibit presents. It’s really important to provoke and challenge diversity of thought and I think that this show provides a unique opportunity to do just that.”