GRESHAM COLLEGE
THE HUMAN COST OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION
GRESHAM COLLEGE VISITING LECTURE SERIES
MARCH 2024
GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT
DOCUMENTING DETENTION
April 2023
IMMIGRANT MASS
By composer: Carlos Jaquez Gonzalez
Greg Constantine - Visuals & Interviews
Online premier: MAY 21, 2021
Live Premier: NOVEMBER 4, 2021
The six movement Immigrant Mass is a fusion of the mass ordinary by Chicago-based composer Carlos Jaquez Gonzalez. The composition includes immigrant experiences and photography collected by documentary photographer Greg Constantine from the project Seven Doors and the photo-testimonial essay American Gulag. Immigrant Mass was first released as an online multimedia film. It is a mixed-media performance reflecting the lives and struggles of those who have sought better lives in America and the impact of immigration detention. Soloists incorporate parts of testimonials gathered from the project Seven Doors.
Carlos Jaquez Gonzalez premiered his Immigrant Mass multimedia film online on May 22, 2021. The film was performed by the Chicago Composers Orchestra, Roosevelt University Conservatory Choir, led by Dr. Cheryl Frazes-Hill and soloists.
On November 4, 2021, Immigrant Mass was performed to a live audience of over 200 people in Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The live performance was the final program of Roosevelt University’s the American Dream Reconsidered Conference. The performance was conducted by Dr. Cheryl Frazes-Hill and performed by the Roosevelt University Conservatory Choir and Orchestra.
Many of the images and testimonies included in Immigrant Mass first appeared in the exhibition: DETAINED (Oct. 2019 - June 2020) at Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University.
‘How a Haunting exhibit on immigration led a Roosevelt University student to create a multimedia ‘Mass’ on the horrors of ICE Detention.’
Hannah Edgar,
Chicago Tribune,
May 12, 2021
TRUMP REVOLUTION
BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER
GROUP EXHIBITION
CINTHYA SANTOS-BRIONES, GREG CONSTANTINE, KHOLOOD EID, JIM GOLDBERG, JOHN MOORE, LUIS ANTONIO ROJAS,
GRISELDA SAN MARTIN, LAURA SAUNDERS & MAGNUM PHOTOS
FEBRUARY 15 - MARCH 29, 2020
Trump Revolution: Immigration, examines the current president’s role in overturning decades of immigration policy in the United States—and the profound effects of that upheaval on American society and the lives of millions of immigrants.
…Ultimately, this exhibition seeks neither to comfort nor explain, but instead offers a tapestry of impressions so that visitors may bear witness to this administration’s actions and ask each other what it means to call America home.
Bronx Documentary Center
“Greg Constantine produced Seven Doors: American Gulag… A photo series on migrants’ detention centers. In a raw, realistic monochrome, he captures these spaces, lost in isolated territories – the facilities are built there to be out of sight from the American public, thus making difficult any contact with a family or a lawyer – and captures the dehumanization of inmates. A brave project, raising awareness.”
Lou Tsatsas, Fisheye Magazine
DETAINED
STORIES OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION
GAGE GALLERY
ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, CHICAGO
OCTOBER 17, 2019 - MARCH 29, 2020
The exhibition DETAINED: Stories of Immigration Detention include large scale panoramas of detention centers around the country, as well as audio accounts taken from interviews recorded by the photographer from individuals who were detained and/or deported. The transcribed interviews are read by Roosevelt University students, and are playing on a loop in the gallery during the exhibition.
