‘Uncaged: Art from the Border’ exhibit opens at IMRC

“Uncaged: Art from the Border,” a collection of works created by children in detention at the Tornillo, Texas camp, opens Nov. 6 at the University of Maine. 

The exhibit is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through Nov. 22 in the APPE Space in the IMRC Center, and is free and open to the public. 

The works in the exhibit were created in late 2018 by children who met regularly with a group of local social studies and art teachers, and center on the children’s notions of home and culture.

After the camp was closed in January 2019, a local priest found the artworks in a dumpster behind the camp. The original works have been preserved and are on display at the University of Texas at El Paso. The traveling exhibit currently at UMaine consists of prints of the originals. 

Susan Smith, assistant director of the Master of Fine Arts program at UMaine, is hosting the exhibition, which will next travel to Boston in December. 

On Nov. 13, Smith will give a talk for students in the Department of Communication and Journalism focused on these works and the intersection of art and social justice within environmental concerns.