A collabpration of social justice and the arts!
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – (February 7, 2024) UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences is hosting a free preview of a new film about Adelanto, the biggest immigration detention center in California, and its impacts at Landmark’s Del Mar Theatre (1124 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA) on February 20. The public is invited to view Ghosts of Adelanto & The Rise of Abolish Ice, a documentary film providing a close look into the lives of migrant families torn apart by Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) through detention and deportation. Featuring first-hand accounts of people who have been detained, Ghosts of Adelanto shows the wrenching stories of family separation and systemic injustices. The film also reveals the often-hidden narratives of resilience and resistance that have emerged from Adelanto, showing the organizing and determination of courageous feminist and queer undocumented activists who have forged a blossoming movement to Abolish ICE.
Film producers Setsu Shigematsu, UC Riverside professor of media studies and director of Visions of Abolition (2011), and Cinthya Martinez, UC Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Santa Cruz, will offer remarks after the preview. They will be joined by Abolish ICE activists.
This preview screening is part of the public scholarship program, Visualizing Abolition, an ongoing initiative at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences exploring art, prisons, and justice. Visualizing Abolition highlights the creative work underway by artists, activists, and scholars to imagine alternatives to current injustices. Visualizing Abolition is organized by UCSC Professor Gina Dent and Dr. Rachel Nelson.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES
As the keystone public galleries at UC Santa Cruz, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences presents a unique vision for the arts at the forefront of social transformation. Drawing on the resources of a leading research university, the world-class exhibitions at the Institute engage the most critical issues of our time, catalyzing meaningful encounters with the arts and ideas.
The Institute Galleries are located at 100 Panetta Avenue, on the westside of Santa Cruz and are open Tuesday-Sunday, 12pm-5pm. Admission is free to the public. More information at https://ias.ucsc.edu/.
ABOUT VISUALIZING ABOLITION
Visualizing Abolition is a public scholarship initiative at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences featuring art exhibitions, public events, artist commissions, a music series, postdoctoral fellowships, graduate student workshops, and curriculum development. These programs are designed to foster creative research and to shift the social attachment to prisons through art and education.
Working across prison borders in all aspects of the initiative, and in collaboration with current and formerly incarcerated people, as well as those without that lived experience, the overarching goal is to change the narrative that links prisons to justice, contributing instead to the unfolding collective story and alternative imagining underway to create a future free of prisons.
