SAN DIEGO — The symbolism behind the artwork makes it powerful, according to performance artist and activist Natalia Ventura.
Ventura has a new exhibit at the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center that features her performance art piece grieving the plight of migrants. She created a mourning cloak that is 30 feet long, representing the height of the border wall.
“There’s just so much grief that is felt through these changes and processes, even now,” Ventura said. “And I wanted a way to use art to come together in this like ritualistic way to process that grief and really take care of one another through all of those difficulties.”
It’s been more than a week since new California legislation was introduced that immigration advocates say will undermine the current sanctuary law, the California Values Act, which limits the ability of local law enforcement to help federal immigration agencies. If passed, the proposed Safety Before Criminal Sanctuary bill will require law enforcement to cooperate with ICE for violent offenders and specific crimes.
The community has been coming together at the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center, which currently features an exhibition celebrating the cross-border friendship of Friendship Park, a binational park split by the border wall in San Diego and Tijuana.
As many worry about safeguards being stripped from migrant families, Ventura said spaces like this are important to give people a place of peace.
“When we’re having these difficult legislative, executive changes happening and affecting our migrant community, art is one pathway out of the many that you can take as an activist and as a person and collective transformation and healing,” she said.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco came to the press conference that announced the Safety Before Criminal Sanctuary bill to show his support. He believes it will ensure violent criminals are not shielded from federal immigration authorities.
“The passage of this bill is going to ensure that criminals who go to jail who are raping, murdering, kidnapping, child molesting our family members, our neighbors — we will make sure that if they are not here legally in the country, they will be deported to the country that they came from. That is all this bill does,” Bianco said.
Bianco hopes communities across California will stop fearing law enforcement officers as they try their best to keep communities safe within the bounds of the law, no matter their immigration status.
“Your local law enforcement is here to protect you,” Bianco said. “We don’t care where you came from. We don’t care if you’re visiting. We don’t care if you were born here, none of that matters to us. We care that you are in crisis, and we are there to help you.”
Ventura hopes whatever happens with the future of the proposed legislation, her work will continue to turn pain into power.
“The border is a place that has changed through space and time, and so it has the ability to change in other ways,” she said. “It has the ability to change in a way that’s moving more towards unity and safety through community care.”
According to Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones’ office, if the bill passes, it will go into effect January 2026.
Ventura’s artwork is on display through March 28.
