Local activist group San Diego Border Dreamers celebrated an art show to raise funds and continue fighting for the future of beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA in the United States.

The art show titled “Our Dreams Live” was held on Friday, Feb. 16, at the Barrio Logan venue Bread & Salt and featured over 100 pieces of art depicting the struggles and hopes of DACA recipients, also known as “Dreamers,” and marginalized communities affected by the current immigration policies of the U.S. Displayed artwork ranged from drawings and paintings to photography, prints and collages.

Attendees at the event were able to submit bids for the artwork on display through a silent auction. All auction proceeds, as well as sales of food and beverages, went to the San Diego Border Dreamers to help them continue their mission of advocacy and education.

Dulce Garcia, a local immigration lawyer, activist, and DACA beneficiary, shared that the artwork on display was a celebration of strength and endurance.

“We are celebrating our resilience as a community,” she shared. “We are celebrating many things like the unity us dreamers have found amongst each other in the past year as a result of the president’s rescinding of the DACA program.”

Garcia participated in the exhibit through her “Golden Cage” installation, which was a spatial representation of the idea of being trapped inside the U.S.

Garcia shared that her installation was inspired by the song “La Jaula de Oro,” or “the Golden Cage,” by norteño band Los Tigres del Norte. In this song, the narrator laments not being able to return to his home and feeling alienated by society due to his migratory status, this despite having the money and family he longed for before coming to the U.S.

“I was not able to attend my grandmother’s funeral when she passed away, which is a common story among us,” Garcia said in relation to not being able to leave the country where she has built a life for herself. “Not being able to go to important family gatherings is a common story for us.”

This event was one of several put on by San Diego Border Dreamers in the last couple of months.

Two weeks ago, the group and several sympathisers marched down to the border wall at Border Field State Park in order to call attention to the existence of a border wall as well as the lack of leadership on immigration issues in congress. More specifically, the group called for a stop to the use of DACA recipients as a ploy to get funding for a border wall as part of a deal proposed by the presidential administration.

San Diego Border Dreamers has undertaken other efforts to bring awareness to the struggles of DACA recipients such as a response to the presidential state of the union and a vigil for detained undocumented youth.