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Dissent Through Art


The National Civil Rights Museum opens the I AM A CHILD exhibit to shine a light on the inhumane practice of separating immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border. The brainchild of artistic director Paola Mendoza and photographer Kisha Bari, the display of over 30 black-and-white images of protesting children ages 3-10 peering into a camera lens evokes a visceral reaction to their sheer innocence and is a direct appeal to society’s humanity.

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The museum is steadfast in its mission to share the culture and lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement and explore how this significant era continues to shape equality and freedom globally.

In June 2018, Mendoza and Bari collaborated on an artistic photo shoot on the steps of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in New York City in response to the zero tolerance policy regarding undocumented immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. With the new policy came a humanitarian crisis where children were torn from their parents and placed in detention centers thousands of miles apart.

The photos quickly went viral on social media. The National Civil Rights Museum reached out to Mendoza through Twitter, and began collaborating on a rapid response installation of an exhibition.

“There is no denying that these photos are powerful and evocative. Our collaboration with Paolo Mendoza to produce the I AM A CHILD exhibition speaks to the power of social media in the fight for social change. The crisis at the border is part of a larger disconcerting problem where children’s human rights are being ignored. Through I AM A CHILD we hope to increase people’s awareness about the ongoing crisis as well as their understanding of human rights,” said Dr. Noelle Trent, the museum’s Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education.

The exhibit opens July 26, and runs through December 2018.

Read more about the project.

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