Grief

By Aransa

The purpose of the panel began as a desire to highlight how immigration policies complicate the experience of losing a loved one across borders. I wanted to convey how restrictive immigration policies function as legal violence that limits mobility and overall structures the grief processes of immigration impacted individuals. This purpose shifted after engaging in art-making sessions with immigration impacted individuals where we discussed themes of grief, (im)mobility and status in our own experiences of loss across borders. The intentions of the panel shifted with a desire to instead highlight the resilience of the people who shared that despite being across borders, they continue to engage in practices of remembrance. I was inspired to create a vertical altar resembling those we create in the corners of our homes. Through this vertical altar, I display collages created during art-making sessions that honor the loss of our loved ones but also to display and recognize the strength of those who have undergone the experience of grieving transnationally.