Artist Statement

In appreciation of the organizations that worked towards the release of gay Nigerian asylum seeker Udoka Nweke, who was detained by ICE immediately when he asked for asylum at San Ysidro port of entry in California in December 2016. Nweke fled homophobic violence in Nigeria, only to be subjected violence and verbal threats in ICE detention because he is gay. Denied parole, he made 2 suicide attempts during his nearly 2 year long detention. Thanks to the work of the following organizations, he was released in September 2018 pending his asylum appeal: Black LGBTQ Migrant Project LGBT Center Orange County Black Alliance for Just Immigration Transgender Law Center UndocuBlack Network ICE Out of L.A. Haitian Bridge Alliance Public Law Center Freedom for Immigrants - Formerly CIVIC Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights - Wolfberry Studio