Socially-engaged Immigration Art

What is the role of socially-engaged art? Can participatory art forms work as educational tools to further social awareness? As Claire Bishop emphasizes, socially-engaged art can be problematic, but doesn't that lead to greater engagement with difficult issues? This paper will explore these questions through three art projects developed on campus, inspired by the socially-engaged “Life: Immigration Game”.

“Life: Immigration Game” is a re-imagined version of Milton Bradley's “The Game of Life”, and replaces the game tiles with new pieces which are related to the life of an immigrant to the United States. The new game is then placed into an unaltered box of “The Game of Life”, and left on shelves of game cafés (The Uncommons and Hex Café in Manhattan, and The Brooklyn Strategist), to be discovered accidentally by their patrons.

Over the past two years, Wagner college spearheaded art initiatives on campus inspired by this project to highlight immigration concerns. Immigrant communities in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island have worked with art students on community portraiture projects, students have taken part in live action role playing games based on “Life: Immigration Game,” and students have created a public sculpture for the campus modeled on immigrant stories.

As students and community members come into contact through art-making, opportunities arise for students to act as ambassadors for immigration awareness on campus. We argue that by asking difficult questions around immigration, the medium of socially-engaged art makes possible a useful discussion for students and community members alike.