Children attempting to cross into the United States from the southern border, either alone or separated from their families by government policies, have for years been detained in locked facilities throughout the country while awaiting their fate.
 
In this painting, you see the children’s prison tents of Homestead, Florida on the left, and Tornillo, Texas on the right. The traditional representation of the Santo Niño de Atocha, the Spanish child saint, is in the center. He is the patron saint of children, pilgrims (note his shell from the Camino de Santiago) and the unjustly imprisoned. Today’s refugees at our border are all of these. The left-hand boy behind the fence is from the documentary film Witness at Tornillo; the right-hand boy is from my imagination, my heart.
 
It took me more than a year to paint this response to the situation of refugee children at and within our border. You might see this as a painting of hope or despair, religion or anti-religion, accusation or understanding, or all of these. A painting is what you see it and feel it to be. I hope this work brings you something of value.