The first thing you'll find walking into a new exhibit at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center this month are 137 letters penned for Dolores Bustamante Romero, a local farm worker and labor advocate targeted by ICE this year. Her arrest sparked outrage and collective action.
Around the corner, two stools perched in front of a set of televisions invite you to listen to the stories of immigrant neighbors firsthand. Why did they come to this country? What sort of life have they built here? Their backs are turned away from the viewer ― the eerie anonymity symbolic of this political moment that has forced many into hiding.
In yet another room, an open call for art produced a community shrine of immigrant experiences from ordinary people.
The exhibition,
"Sanctuary: Borders & Belonging in 2026," features 11 installations by local and national artists.
"Together, they ask how belonging is made and denied, and how care, solidarity, and resilience persist in the face of exclusion and persecution," a curatorial statement in the gallery reads.
Bleu Cease, executive director of the Rochester Contemporary Art Center, said the collection itself is a political protest of immigration policy in America today. There has been a steep increase in raids, arrests, deportations and rhetoric toward immigrants under the Trump administration ― and Rochester has not been spared the impact.
"This is about people we all know, people we all care about," Cease said. "This is our effort as an organization to diversify the narrative and reclaim the narrative on behalf of folks who are very scared today."
Other projects challenge the permanence and rationale of real life borders across the world. Toward the back of the gallery, a screen displays a short video playing on a loop: A mirror sits among the rocks and dry brush near the U.S.-Mexico border, reflecting an industrial fence somewhere nearby. A rock is thrown. The mirror shatters. The video resets.
By the front door, you'll find a wall of meticulous etchings of fences, razor wire, moats and surveillance systems accompanied by descriptions of where they live. Each piece is laid on gray paper. Together, they appear as cinderblocks creating yet another border.
Cease said the gallery aims to support artists who are addressing the world's most urgent social and political questions through their work. "Our mission is to reflect the times," he said. "If we weren't addressing immigration in some fashion, we wouldn't be doing our job."
“Sanctuary: Borders & Belonging in 2026” is on display at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center between Oct. 2 and Nov. 14.
― Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on immigration, police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Instagram @bykaylacanne. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: New Rochester art exhibit explores how borders divide us
