EVA AGUILA

Born in Los Angeles

Lives and works in Los Angeles, California

“The four oldest sons of my maternal great-grandfather, including my grandpa Pedro Aguiñiga, were in the Bracero Program. My paternal grandfather, Ramon Aguila, was in the Bracero Program and worked in the railroad. They traveled back and forth between the US and Mexico working in various jobs from building the railroad to picking melons in the agricultural sector. Despite the hardship, they were able to build generational wealth by building their family homes or starting small businesses.”

Eva Aguila’s installation is inspired by photographs of her Grandfather’s home in El Capulin, Michoacán, which he built with money earned as a Bracero (“arm”). From 1942–1964, the Bracero Program sought to address a U.S. labor shortage by bringing Mexican workers into the United States on short-term labor contracts.

The installation includes an interview with Aguila’s cousin, a seasonal worker on an H2a visa, and images related to such activists as the artist’s uncle, Jorge Campos Aguiñiga, and Cesar Chavez. Combining past and present through the memory of her bloodline, Aguila, illuminates the Bracero program as the foundation model for the H2a visa and raises questions about the United States’ continuing dependency on migrant labor.

Eva Aguila is the co-founder and Director of Coaxial Arts Foundation in Los Angeles. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Southern California.

Visit the artist’s website: www.evaaguila.com