More Than Just Stick Figure Drawings: The Aesthetic Testimonios of Central American Youth

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Abstract

This paper is an a/r/tographical study of how the individual aesthetic testimonios of Central American youth can inspire the creation of larger scale aesthetic pieces that reveal their migratory journeys. Inspired by the traditional oral discourse of testimonio, my work is centered on the development of aesthetic testimonios, which I describe as artistic representations authored by those peoples who have been forced into subalternity. These aesthetic testimonios can serve to speak out against the forces that attempt to stifle, mute, or simply fail to recognize those who go unseen and/or misunderstood because their biological age and legal status in this country, specifically in U.S. institutions of schooling.

Author

• Esther Maria Claros Berlioz, Miami University - Oxford