Artist Adriana Corral's display of Unearthed: Desenterrado, a white cotton flag installed at the site of the Rio Vista processing center in Socorro, Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border, is the focus of this multi-disciplinary collection of essays. In 2018, the flag flew on a sixty-foot-tall flagpole and marked a former public health processing center where Mexican manual laborers (braceros) were subjected to dehumanizing medical examinations before permitted entrance into the United...
More DescriptionArtist Adriana Corral's display of Unearthed: Desenterrado, a white cotton flag installed at the site of the Rio Vista processing center in Socorro, Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border, is the focus of this multi-disciplinary collection of essays. In 2018, the flag flew on a sixty-foot-tall flagpole and marked a former public health processing center where Mexican manual laborers (braceros) were subjected to dehumanizing medical examinations before permitted entrance into the United States as guest workers. Braceros labored on farms and railways for little pay and often under poor conditions. Corral's flag serves as a visible acknowledgment of the labor of millions of Mexicans who worked in the United States. Authors Andrea Lepage, Yolanda Chávez Leyva, Denise Markonish, David Dorado Romo, and Cortney Stell provide a deep historical and art historical context for Corral's artwork. Former bracero Felipe Serrano shares his personal experience of being processed at the Rio Vista processing center. This exhibition catalogue was produced in conjunction with the Staniar Gallery's exhibition of Unearthed: Desenterrado at Washington and Lee University (April 22-May 24, 2019) in Lexington, Virginia.