Mural for Immigrant Day of Resilience by Shirien Damra

posted by Emily Gosling May 5, 2021

Artist, designer and illustrator Shirien Damra has created a mural for Immigrant Day of Resilience, which was celebrated on 15 April as a day assigned to honour the strength of immigrant communities in the US in the face of a long history of marginalisation.

Damra, who is based in Chicago but describes her roots as laying in Palestine, was commissioned by non-profit United We Dream and strategic and creative consultancy Matter Unlimited for the project.

United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led organisation in the US, comprised of more than 800,000 members and over 100 local groups that advocate at local and national levels for “the dignity and justice of immigrants and communities of colour”. United We Dream is behind the designation of Immigrant Day of Resilience, and says it wanted to recognize and address the impact of detention, deportation, police brutality, and COVID-19 on immigrant communities. It looked to commission the mural as a public focal point for people to be inspired, reflect on the immigrant struggle and heal.

“More than any other country in the world, immigrants have played an integral part in making the US what it is today,” says the organisation. “In fact, it is a nation of immigrants, founded under the principles of liberty, unity and strength through diversity. Yet, the past four years have been some of the toughest for them, due in large part to the worsening policies and attitudes towards immigrants and communities of color in the United States.”

The mural looks to be a symbol of hope for the future, and is sited in DC’s 4th Ward. “When United We Dream came to us, they were already gathering support of DC officials to mark the day,” says Rob Holzer, Matter Unlimited founder and CEO. ”What they needed was a partner that could help them communicate their mission and bring the mural to life. This is a group that is on the front lines, advocating for the immigrant community at a time when they need it the most. It’s an issue we all care deeply about, so we jumped at the chance to help out where we could.”

The agency wanted to work with Damra having recognised her artistic and campaigning work through the work she created in summer last year. Her illustrated tributes to victims of police violence went viral, and was featured by CNN, ELLE, Time Magazine among many others.

Damra created a 47 x 12 foot portraiture-style mural that depicts three individuals and their unique immigration stories. These are a 77-year-old Japanese American psychotherapist specialising in community trauma, who was born and raised in a detention camp and went on to co-found Tsuru for Solidarity, a network of Japanese American survivors of the detention camps and their descendants; a 23-year-old immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who has lived in DC since she was three, but is currently undocumented and desperately awaiting a path to citizenship; and a 25-year-old Mexican immigrant who was criminalised by local police and deported from his longtime home in North Carolina to Mexico.

“I feel blessed and humbled to have been able to help share these inspiring immigrant stories and create the mural artwork for the very first ‘Immigrant Day of Resilience’ in their honor,” says Damra. “I know all too well that so many immigrants come to this country because they don’t have a choice. Many flee corruption, imperialism, settler-colonialism and genocide in their home countries. ⁣I’m in awe at the resilience and power of immigrants rising up for their rights. Their strength deserves to be celebrated and their stories centered and uplifted in the struggle for a more just society.”

Unveiled on 15 April, the mural is intended to be a permanent fixture within the 4th Ward, with the goal of potentially creating additional murals in key cities across the US.