Erika Hirugami: Aesthetics of Undocumentedness: Undocreative Labor in the Arts Industries

February 23, 2023

Please join us for our next lecture in the ASU-LACMA Navigating Change in Museums public lecture series. Erika Hirugami will focus on addressing issues of migration policy and politics around undocumentedness to discuss how they converge within the creative industries at the forefront of Justice, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.

There is no easy way to define undocumentedness and no single definition that stands true across the globe. In the words of Jose Antonio Vargas, “If there are an estimated 45 million immigrants living in America, then there are 45 million ways of being an immigrant in America. Like all groups, we are not a monolith.” Of those forty- five million immigrants, and as per the Department of Homeland Security, eleven million immigrants currently residing in the United States are unauthorized. Borrowing Jose Antonio Vargas’ logic, there are eleven million ways of being undocumented in the United States.

In Los Angeles County alone, an estimated 200,000 undocreatives work in the creative industries while lacking basic resources toward sustainability. The arts and culture industry generally lacks awareness of undocreatives. It is crucial to develop basic cultural competency and understanding of artists and arts professionals along the undoc+ spectrum to cultivate best practices, improve decision-making processes, and plan more equitably and effectively for undocreative sustainability.

Moderated by ASU-LACMA Master's Fellow Deliasofia Zacarias