Existing comment:
Elizabeth Sisco
born Cheverly, Maryland 1954
Louis Hock
born Los Angeles, California 1948
David Avalos
born San Diego, California 1947
Welcome to America's Finest Tourist Plantation
1988
screenprint on vinyl mounted on foam board
Designed to appear in the advertising space on the sides of San Diego city buses, Welcome to America's Finest Tourist Plantation is a fierce rebuttal to San Diego's nickname, "America's Finest City," coined by mayor Pete Wilson in 1972. From left, a dishwasher cleans food scraps off a plate, an armed guard handcuffs a subject, and a hand reaches for a hotel door with a placard requesting housekeeping. The matching brown hands racialize the labor pool, and their apprehension by law enforcement suggests their undocumented status. Through image and text, the work questions the myth of the U.S. as a "nation of immigrants." The public reaction generated by this art project demonstrates how the graphic arts can serve as a catalyst for dialogue.
Gift of Mr. Alfred S. Pagano and Susan A. Tyler, 2015.37 |