Harlem-based artist Mayowa Nwadike normally captures the immigrant experience through his own brushstrokes, but he immediately agreed to be the subject matter himself when asked to participate in the New York Proud Campaign. The campaign tells the story of more than 25 first-generation New Yorkers through portrait photos placed throughout public spaces. The Nigerian-born painter calls the project an extension of his own artistic vision.
“To get to a new country and all the changes that come with that — such representation of us immigrants is encouraging,” said Nwadike over the phone. “Also, it’s really encouraging to be yourself.”
The pop-up exhibitions hit Times Square and Downtown Brooklyn earlier this month and stem from a collaboration between nonprofits the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and Photoville. Another installation currently runs in Queens until October 18 at Hunters Point South (between Center Blvd. and 51st Avenue). The campaign will also show up on the city’s subway platforms. Venezuelan photographer Oscar Castillo snapped the portraits.
“The ‘New York Proud’ campaign is a beautiful testament to immigrant communities and their value to our society,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams in a statement. “The ever-expanding collection of portraits and narratives honors immigrants as not just a part of our history, but as an integral part of our city’s fabric and future.”
NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told the AmNews that the series intends to “bring New Yorkers back to what really unites us,” as well as push back on anti-immigrant narratives. Portrait subjects feature new Americans, ranging from a librarian from Haiti to a fruit vendor from Côte d’Ivoire.
“We recruited the participants through our member organizations, through our staff and their partners, and reached out to certain people we wanted to include in the campaign,” said Awawdeh. “Everyone who we reached out to is incredibly eager and proud to join the campaign. [We hope] this is going to be a multi-year effort. Next year, we’ll have another round of people and continue to highlight the importance of all of us[who] make New York, New York.”
Awawdeh said the campaign’s reception has been entirely positive, with many of the subjects getting long-awaited recognition outside their communities. He recounted excitement among those tattooed by artists featured in the campaign and celebration of an Albanian composer who is famous among the city’s Balkan residents.
Nwadike said he also got the chance to engage with other cultures through participating in the campaign. “I’ve also learned a lot about so many other places and the struggles, and what could drive people from [those] different places,” said Nwadike. “By working with the photographer, I’m having those conversations about the struggles of different countries and the politics. It just makes me see it’s really universal. People from different places — we all have a common thing that we all go through.”
The campaign arrives as anti-immigrant sentiment remains entrenched in both national and local politics, most recently with false claims targeting Haitian residents in Springfield, Ohio by Republican officials.
“When you are constantly being inundated with divisive and dangerous and racist rhetoric, it really does harm people,” said Awawdeh. “That becomes mainstreamed in a way in which it shouldn’t. And the reality is that we’ve seen people who’ve been elected to office here in New York City and elsewhere, who continue to propagate misinformation and disinformation trying to scapegoat immigrant communities for their own failures as elected officials, and we’ll continue to see that.
“But what we want to do in this campaign is really unite the public.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1