Lizania Cruz: Every Immigrant Is a Writer delves into individual and collective experiences of Black immigrants and first-generation Black Americans, culminating the artist’s five-year project, We the News. It encompasses the many creative and participatory formats that Cruz’s iterative project has taken since 2017, ranging from community story circles, a newsstand display of zines available for visitors to activate, to workshops convened for immigrants to trace their routes to get to the United States. Recurrent subjects arise about race versus cultural identity; about the sacrifices that immigrants make when they uproot themselves and their families; and the perils of seeking asylum in a new country. Visitors to the gallery will be able to peruse documentation and archival materials from previous iterations of We the News in Pittsburgh, Miami, and numerous communities throughout New York City, as well as a short video of a happening of the artist activating the newsstand in Miami in 2018. They will also be invited to participate directly in the exhibition by following guided writing and drawing prompts.
