Current Projects
To Whom It May Concern, Part 1
A postcard project in collaboration with Pickwick Independent Press
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PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Lizania Cruz (New York, NY) María Alejandra Barrios (City, State) Artist Number 3 (City, State) Artist Number 4 (City, State) Printed by Pickwick Independent Press ABOUT THE PROJECT
Border Patrol is pleased to present To Whom It May Concern, an ongoing postcard project and fundraiser for detainees at the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA. For reasons both related and unrelated to the Coronavirus, Border Patrol has adapted to the demands of long-distance communication. These talks resulted in To Whom It May Concern, a postcard project organized around four themes: Tailor, Witness, Altar, and Rations. We hope that these themes will initiate memories, ideas, poems, disputes, discussions, and drawings. The themes will remain constant throughout the project, though participating artists and printers will rotate. The first round features text-based works by Lizania Cruz (New York, NY); Artist Name (City, State); Artist Name (City, State); and Artist Name (City, State). All postcards are letterpressed by Pilar Nadal of Pickwick Independent Press. We felt drawn to the postcard for a number of reasons, primarily as a location of image production and a carrier of messages both profound and pedestrian. Postcards are embedded within a medium of exchange across great distances, facilitated by a postal service that (for the moment) remains within the public domain. Postcards hold images and messages not sealed in an envelope, but carried through the open air for all who care to see. |
PRICING AND DONATIONS
Each pack of 4 postcards is available $10, but customers are encouraged to donate more. The $10 payment covers printing costs, materials, artists fees, and labor. Any funds received over $10 will be donated to Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity with Immigrants (KWESI), a non-profit whose mission is to support the detainees of the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA. Details on how to make purchases through Venmo and PayPal are found on our our Instagram page, and you can email us to make alternative arrangements.
Mesa Verde Detention Center is a privately owned facility that has a history of underserving its population. Its detainees staged a hunger strike in late April demanding PPE during the pandemic. Combined with protests led by KWESI, the detainees pressured Mesa Verde to release all women in the facility, though access to basic sanitary supplies like soap and hand sanitizer are still limited to those who can afford to pay for it through commissary. Money raised from To Whom It May Concern will go directly to KWESI as the organization continues to fight for detainees' rights and release by paying for their legal fees and raising awareness in the California Central Valley. Communities in prisons, jails, and detention centers are likely to become infected with COVID-19 at a rate that is on average four times higher than the rest of the country. Border Patrol stands in solidarity with those fighting to release prisoners and detainees across the country.
Each pack of 4 postcards is available $10, but customers are encouraged to donate more. The $10 payment covers printing costs, materials, artists fees, and labor. Any funds received over $10 will be donated to Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity with Immigrants (KWESI), a non-profit whose mission is to support the detainees of the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA. Details on how to make purchases through Venmo and PayPal are found on our our Instagram page, and you can email us to make alternative arrangements.
Mesa Verde Detention Center is a privately owned facility that has a history of underserving its population. Its detainees staged a hunger strike in late April demanding PPE during the pandemic. Combined with protests led by KWESI, the detainees pressured Mesa Verde to release all women in the facility, though access to basic sanitary supplies like soap and hand sanitizer are still limited to those who can afford to pay for it through commissary. Money raised from To Whom It May Concern will go directly to KWESI as the organization continues to fight for detainees' rights and release by paying for their legal fees and raising awareness in the California Central Valley. Communities in prisons, jails, and detention centers are likely to become infected with COVID-19 at a rate that is on average four times higher than the rest of the country. Border Patrol stands in solidarity with those fighting to release prisoners and detainees across the country.