El Museo del Barrio Director Defies Trump on Migrant Children

On July 10, 2018, Patrick Charpenel, executive director of El Museo del Barrio in New York, circulated an email denouncing the separation of migrant children from their families and calling for humane immigration policies. The museum, rooted in social justice and representing Latin and Latin American culture, urged the administration to act. Charpenel quoted Cuban artist Tania Bruguera's 2013 TED Global talk on dignity without nationality and included an image from the museum's 2017 exhibition "Dreaming up North: Children on the Move Across the Americas," which featured works by six anthropologists and three photographers documenting migrant children from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Charpenel stated that museums can no longer remain neutral on social and political issues affecting their communities. He received widespread support from the international art community, including artists and museums, for his stance. Charpenel believes art is a powerful agent for social change, capable of articulating realities and awakening consciousness on political issues.