Color in balance
Corazón del Pueblo showcases local high school students’ illustrations depicting Mexican identity, fight for social justice
A first-year student and undocumented immigrant from Ernest Righetti High School said the outfit she depicted in her illustration was the one she dreamed of wearing at her quinceañera before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents swarmed her neighborhood, keeping her trapped, hiding in her home, and forcing her parents to cancel the party. As one of seven children and the oldest of five sisters, the student said she understood why her parents couldn’t afford to reschedule.
“ICE was around, and my parents were scared something was going to happen, so I didn’t even have a party,” the student said. “We couldn’t even go out. They couldn’t take me to my basketball practice. It’s scary. I don't want to leave everything behind and get arrested or treated badly because of my skin color.”
On May 30, Corazón del Pueblo, a cultural and creative arts nonprofit located at 120 E. Jones St. in Santa Maria, hosted Nuestra Lotería, a public exhibition showcasing artwork made by students like the first-year from Righetti and Santa Maria high schools, at the Santa Maria Fairpark.
As part of a project designed to teach them different communication methods, students chose social justice or cultural heritage-based topics, drew matching illustrations on 11 by 14-inch canvases, and then explained their projects to their peers via research essays, poems, or presentations. Some of the topics on display included suffering, separation, immigration, identity, tradition, the next generation, field workers, homelessness, voice, strength, and balance.
For their Nuestra Lotería illustrations, students reimagined traditional Mexican bingo board squares to highlight the modern issues they battle as students in today’s United States.
Community members were greeted with fresh tamales and a Danza Mexicana performance by Coatlicue atalchinolli as they strolled through the maze of wheeled black room dividers displaying 217 students’ pieces. Local musician Jose Rendón churned out the soothing sound of the saxophone with songs like Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
The first-year student and undocumented immigrant from Righetti High School drew a Mexican girl in a black empire waist ball gown and matching charro hat with two spotlights illuminating beside her to represent her theme, which translated to the moment in English. In front of the girl, who represents the student artist at her dream quinceañera, lies a scattered arrangement of flowers and traditional coconut candies colored red, green, and white to represent the Mexican flag, just like the flags hanging from a wire behind the girl.
The student called supporters of ICE raids deporting immigrants cruel.
“They're over here cheering for suffering, because that's what we're going through,” the student said. “Our parents are over here working almost 24/7. We have to stay home, take care of our sisters and brothers, and then worry if our parents are going to come back.”
For her topic, the underpaid, a different first-year student from Righetti drew two hands holding a ripped check over a strawberry.
That student said she wanted to highlight the struggle of fieldworkers specifically. The red lunchbox she depicted below the check represents the ones her uncles bring when they go to work at their strawberry fields every day. The check is made out to her uncle and is for $300.70.
Another Righetti first-year’s*** topic translated to the student in English. She chose to depict the violent reality of school shootings.
A crying child clinging to a desk leg sits at the center of a grey schoolhouse, itself sitting in front of an all-grey background. A big white clock hangs below an American flag waving in the wind atop the school. Bright red blood drips from two windows, both lined with blue cross bars.
“I know school shootings happen a lot in the world, but since one hasn’t happened here, they aren’t really talked about in our community,” the student said. “It’s not a worry that’s on my mind 24/7, but sometimes, I’ll just be sitting in class and think, ‘What if somebody were to shoot up the school right now?’ It’s scary.”
The student said she immigrated to the United States with her family when she was six years old. As an undocumented immigrant, she said she’s worried ICE agents will abduct and deport her at school or her parents at work.
“It’s frustrating—having to be like, ‘Should I worry about school? Am I even going to be in this country tomorrow? Should I even be looking into colleges in the U.S.,’” the student said. “We’re all told, ‘You’re doing this to get into a good college,’ but am I going to be allowed to get into college?”
The student said she sees her friends and family members experiencing the same reality. She said she doesn’t know anybody who’s immigrated to the U.S. and achieved the American Dream as it was pitched.
“We were promised this American Dream,” the student said. “It’s not happening. From what I've seen—my friends, their families, and my family—nobody has obtained that legitimate American dream. Everybody's still working in the fields. When they come to the U.S., they don’t come thinking, ‘I’m coming to study, get a degree, and get a nice job.’ They're thinking, ‘I'm coming to the U.S. to work in the fields and break my back every single day, so I can save up money and send it back to Mexico, and then, hopefully, one day go back to the family I left behind.’ Why are we being told that we’re going to achieve all these things? When we get here, it’s just work. Everybody has to work to have a nice life, but we’re working and not getting that.”
Despite the mountain of challenges thrown in the way of young Mexican girls currently living in the U.S. like herself, the student persists with a positive perspective.
“There’s still a chance these things will end when the president’s term ends,” she said. “I’m trying to hold onto that flicker of hope that there is a possibility these people are not trying to get rid of me.”
*This story was originally published June 12, 2025, at https://www.santamariasun.com/arts/local-nonprofit-displays-local-high-school-students-illustrations-highlighting-mexican-identity-fight-for-social-justice-16567934
**Students’ names were withheld from this story to protect their identities
***This student was mistakenly identified as a sophomore in the original story. I apologize to the student.