Amordidas: Sensorial Regeneration Beyond the Wake of Deportation by Jenni Martinez

This is the starting point of the "Amordidas Acompanadas" exhibit. This is a story of deportation, loss, grief, and the beautiful ways we re-member through food, senses, and family.

Deportation is Death Sentence: This is a central idea of the exhibit and calls attention to the many ways that deportation produces death in our communities.

At the time of this exhibit, 18 people had passed away inside an ICE facility in the U.S. This station displays 18 Lite-Brite toys with the name of each person whose life was tragically cut short by ICE. Visitors were prompted to place a light around the names to honor their memory.

These are the last two tables of the exhibit after two weeks of display. The last two tables reflect a sense of "taste" and serve as an altar for my family, whose relationship to each other ceased to exist post-deportation. We find new ways to relate to one another but the memory of who we were pre-deportation deserves re-membering & it is an altar for mami who passed away in December 2024. Lolita Perez Flores Presente!

Community filled the tables with offerings of recipes and recuerdos of their loved ones alongside a light to keep their memories alive.

My brother, Victor, at the closing reception for the exhibit, looking at an altar of Mami. We find new ways to be together in the face of grief.