2025 SDSS: Part III

Ali Motamedi—an author, artist, and educator who explores themes of language, immigration, and identity—will develop a participatory public art project that utilizes the expressive potential of unreadable or unfamiliar language as a medium for cross-cultural dialogue, community engagement, and collective creation through interactive installations and workshops.

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Cecilia Lim will share a community-based art practice inspired by traditional sewing circles and her grandmother’s legacy. During the SDSS events, Lim will initiate dialogues with local residents to share stories while holding lap pillows embroidered with value statements on how to navigate conflict and prioritize relationships. The project includes storytelling, conflict resolution dialogues, and the production of zines documenting community interactions.

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Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, PhD, will invite participants to paint and create large-scale participatory murals that amplify the stories of migrants who entered the United States as minors, also known as ‘U.S. Childhood Arrivals.’  She will invite Dreamers and DACA beneficiaries to participate in her mural-making process during the events. The murals aim to foster a conversation connecting U.S.-Mexico border issues with those affecting immigrants on the East Coast. They address critical challenges, such as limited legal options, deportability, and the lived experiences of this generation of immigrants. They highlight that the border is not just a distant Southern reality, but also a present one here in NYC.

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Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga will expand a multimedia project that combines public workshops, a print publication, an informational website, street interviews, and a narrative-based video game to explore U.S. immigration history and propose new policies reflecting contemporary realities. During the SDSS events, the artist will play a Monopoly-style board game with participants. The board game parallels the history of U.S. immigration law with the U.S. gross domestic product to demonstrate how the national economy has grown through migrant labor. The game is presented on the street to inform participants, gather interviews, and workshop ideas for new immigration policies to be submitted to elected representatives and presented on social networks.​

Accommodations 

We welcome requests for individual accommodations. ASL and other disability services are available with at least two weeks' notice. For assistance, please contact us at info@kafny.org or (347) 840-1142.