Most of my works appearing in Chicana/Latina Studies speak to immigrant experiences. They are about those who cross the border into United States territory and what happens to them when they arrive, most especially the oppression they confront in a new nation. Through my art, I convey a message that exposes difficult circumstances that, usually, are not of immigrants’ doing: These circumstances and events happen to them because of scarcity of socioeconomic circumstances and because of who they are and where they originate.
I feel deeply for the oppressed—my work reflects this sentiment. There is something about inequality that will not let me rest. Es como una decepción, a betrayal of one another, of our humanity. It is my emotional connection to the suffering of the oppressed that inspire me to draw or paint images. I create to make visible the invisible, to tell our stories, to honor our people, and, ultimately, to offer hope.
Excerpt from Wilson, Liliana. 2011. “Images of Life: Witnessing Atrocities.”
Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social 10(2): 10-13.
