"In an ever-growing migrant United States, how do we learn to see the immigrant as more than a foreigner and/or an illegal alien? How do we remember those who die in their migratory journeys? And how do we collectively imagine a future without forced migration?"
"To combat xenophobic tropes, de la Calle uses her art as a way to reimagine migrant futures. Through large-scale textile collages, installations, and sculptures, she introduced a visual grammar to characterize the migrant as human and Colombia as a geography of life and joy. "
“Art has allowed me to zoom in on the parts of the stories I can talk about.”
"I was just thinking about how the sky was the one thing that united us. We shared the same moon, but the sky is this blanket that covers us. … Borders create this sort of crack in that sky."
For migrants, the question of return is always a challenge: Will they welcome me back? Will my home still exist? Does anyone remember those who have left?
"The in-betweenness of migration is not something de la Calle wants us to run away from. She’s not chasing roots or routes; she’s chasing political futures where it is easier to breathe."