New York City’s Arts and Cultural Sector is Reshaping Immigration Narratives
(Photo/Hunters Point South Park/City Life Org)
By Juliet Nadis
An attorney from Pakistan smiles from the courthouse steps. A fruit vendor from Côte d'Ivoire poses beside her mango stand. A composer from Albania gazes up from his piano. These are just a handful of the many portraits featured on subways and in public squares across New York City.
The photographs are part of New York Proud, a public art campaign launched by the New York Immigration Coalition in August 2024. The pop-up photo exhibit has travelled to each borough, displaying the unique stories that immigrants contribute to the city. Starting May 6, it will be on display at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
At a time of political fear-mongering and rising xenophobia, New York’s cultural spaces are quietly offering a counternarrative: one of a city defined by complexity, empathy, and shared identity.
Since his re-election, President Trump has moved swiftly to reshape the nation's immigration policy, delivering on a campaign rife with xenophobic rhetoric. The President's unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which has provided a tenuous legal justification for a series of unlawful detentions and deportations, have left immigrant communities and advocates fearful of what lies ahead.
Even democratic strongholds such as New York are at risk. Recent polling found that support for immigrants among New Yorkers has declined by nearly 20 percent in recent years, a jarring statistic for a city that has been a historic entry point for immigrants. Much of the backlash emerged in response to the record-high influx of migrants over the past three years, which tested the city’s “right-to-shelter” policy. When shelters reached maximum capacity, emergency temporary shelters were created in spaces like office buildings and hotels. Mayor Eric Adams, who has taken an increasingly hard line stance on immigration, claimed the migrant influx would “destroy New York City.” Spurred by the Mayor’s efforts, city officials imposed a 30 day limit on the city’s right-to-shelter policy last year, marking a dramatic change in New York’s attitude towards migrants.
Already, civil society has been challenging the new administration’s unlawful actions in courts and on the streets. However, policy reform alone will not solve this crisis. Combating xenophobia demands a shift in public perception—a shift New York’s cultural institutions are uniquely positioned to lead.
According to Suvasini Patel, Vice President of Communications and Strategy at the New York Immigration Coalition, the goal of New York Proud is “to remind the public that immigrants have always been here, are all around us, and are key contributors to making the city work in all kinds of ways.”
The campaign purposefully challenges the narrative of a monolithic immigrant community—Patel underscored the importance of showing “immigrants as not just workers, but as New Yorkers.” Photographer Oscar Castillo intentionally featured migrants from many countries of origin working across sectors, from a journalist and human rights activist to a hair stylist, in order to showcase the diversity of the immigrant experience. Beyond raising awareness among non-immigrant New Yorkers, the campaign has also been meaningful for participants, who have gone “from feeling invisible to uplifted,” Patel reflected.
New York’s cultural institutions also play a vital role in amplifying immigrant narratives. The Tenement Museum, for example, explores American immigration stories through guided tours of the Lower East Side tenement buildings, where generations of immigrant families lived. Originally focused on European immigrants, the museum has broadened its scope to include the histories of Chinese, Puerto Rican and Black families in New York.
Since its founding nearly four decades ago, the Tenement Museum has sought to expand the definition of what it means to be an American. In a recent survey conducted by the museum, over 90 percent of visitors said they learned about their identity. I am one of them. On my own visits to the Tenement Museum, I have been transported from 21st century Manhattan to the Lower East Side of my Jewish ancestors, who arrived from Eastern Europe over a century ago.
Through its walls, I have seen my own family’s immigration story reflected, as well as the stories of countless others from different points of origin who undertook that same journey decades later. Whether it be the living quarters of a family like mine or those of a community of Chinese garment workers in the decades following, the museum personalizes each story through an artful choreography of historical research, artifacts and storytelling. As Annie Polland, Tenement Museum President, explains, “the stories we tell make people think about American identity, and the more spaces we have like that the better.”
Particularly salient in today’s highly polarized political climate, the museum’s mission has shown “some members of white ethnic groups who have become anti-immigrant…that their ancestors have been excluded or discriminated against too,” Polland explains.
“As we move forward, do we strive for an American identity that is inclusive and expansive, or one that defines itself by exclusion? Understanding the history of these two tendencies is incredibly important,” says Polland. This central question is echoed in the national conversation around borders, citizenship and belonging.
While public arts and cultural institutions alone cannot provide much-needed reform to the nation’s attitudes and policies towards immigration, they are critical sites where political discourse and beliefs can be challenged or shaped. As immigrant communities face unprecedented fear and uncertainty, arts and cultural institutions remind us of our city’s long history as a beacon of hope for generations of immigrants fleeing persecution or searching for a better future.