Interview with Helen Ceballos at the Materic

A short interview in which the artist explains the reasons and causes that led her to choose the theme of immigration

Helen Ceballos is the last one to close the day of activities in Materic. We recover strength, we sit down and with great availability we begin to retrace the reasons and the meaning of her work.

Who is Helen Ceballos

Helen was born in the Caribbean in 1986 and grows on three islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. He has a degree in acting and letters from the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico. Migrating is never easy, especially for those who come from places kneeling by natural calamities or wars. It is not just about leaving the country, but about finding a way to start from scratch.

Immigration

When asked what motivated her to perform this performance, she answered that she did not choose it. It was chosen His show is based on anecdotes lived in first person or told by those who have embarked on a small boat that crosses an ocean at night.

According to his point of view, immigration laws are a political and socio-economic invention. Although this may seem like a naive idea, Helen dreams a world without borders or being able to put an end to bloodshed and consequent economic speculation. Immigration affects the whole world without exception. Those who emigrate do so to escape from poverty, crime, or natural disasters like the Caribbean citizens kneeling by Irma and Maria hurricanes.

Trump’s law

In the finale, Helen is locked in a cage while a recording of the desperate crying of the children is sounded.

The reason is the complaint of the exasperation of the crime of immigration, by Trump, which provides detention. However, the law is not applicable to minors. This creates a legislative flaw, which prevents the child from returning home or being adopted as registered in the imprisoned family name. During the detention, children experience the impact of separation, loneliness, malnutrition and psychological violence for many months. Its goal is to make people aware of not observing these events in a distant and foreign way as if it were a movie.

Next exhibition in Europe

At the end of the interview, Helen continues her performance in Europe exactly in Berlin on 4-10-2018. The OKK art gallery will host part of their project together with the photographic work of Amarilis Torres Carrasquillo. A project focused on the Hurricane Mary disaster titled “NO VOY A PEDIRLE NADIE QUE ME CREA”.

Marco Pachiega