{"id":357214,"date":"2025-12-19T02:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T02:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/357214\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T02:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T02:41:10","slug":"drawing-inspiration-from-mentors-this-undocumented-artist-is-rekindling-her-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/357214\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing Inspiration From Mentors, This Undocumented Artist Is Rekindling Her Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by Borderless Magazine.\u00a0Sign up for its newsletter to learn the latest about Chicago\u2019s immigrant communities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

*Editor\u2019s note [12\/18\/25]: Borderless Magazine has chosen not to publish the full name of the interviewee to protect the individual\u2019s safety and privacy. The source chose to use her first initial, E, for reference. For questions, please contact us at info@borderlessmag.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 Growing up, E* would binge-watch YouTube videos of popular artists and musicians, like Bad Bunny and Lindsey Stirling, in awe of their work. It wasn\u2019t until recently, after finding mentorship and community, that she realized she could be an artist, too.<\/p>\n

E came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 5 years old. Since then, she\u2019s lived in the country without legal status \u2014 something that\u2019s made accessing stable work and education more difficult. People who are undocumented can work and pay taxes as independent contractors, but finding stable, full-time work can be challenging.<\/p>\n

More than half a million people in Illinois are undocumented, according to estimates from the Pew Research Center<\/a>. Illinois is also home to the sixth-largest undocumented community in the country.<\/p>\n

Despite the struggles she\u2019s faced as someone who is undocumented, E says her identity and status have made her who she is today.<\/p>\n

She said connecting with other people in the Latino community has helped her reshape the course of her life. It\u2019s shown her that being a professional creative, as someone who is undocumented and Latino, is possible.<\/p>\n

Borderless Magazine spoke to E, 23, about being undocumented and how she reignited her childhood passion for art and creativity.<\/p>\n

Coming To The U.S.<\/p>\n

Before we came to the U.S., my parents didn\u2019t have much money. We went through poverty. My dad was working full-time and my mom was trying to get work, and they couldn\u2019t even afford diapers. It was a challenge for them.<\/p>\n

My mom didn\u2019t go to school past elementary. I don\u2019t think she even finished elementary school because her mom passed away when she was 9 from cervical cancer, and her dad wasn\u2019t in the picture.<\/p>\n

When my parents had me at a really young age, they decided to move because they knew that education was not the best in Mexico, and that they probably couldn\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n

In Mexico, you\u2019d only get a good education if you had money for it. Schools are usually further out, so you have to take a bus or some way of transportation and pay for books and uniforms. That\u2019s very costly when you\u2019re barely making ends meet with rent and food.<\/p>\n

So my mom, at 23, immigrated here with just me and my sister, since my dad had already immigrated here. We crossed the desert when I was 5 years old.<\/p>\n

At one point, while crossing, we were held at gunpoint by three Border Patrol agents and put in a customs jail cell for a day or two. At another point, we were also held for ransom for over a month by coyotes, who are smugglers.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I have night terrors and dreams where I remember those days. I remember my legs were all scratched up, and at one point, I was laying in the sand, and it was cold, but I was just playing with it.<\/p>\n

My mom had me at 18. I\u2019m 23, and I don\u2019t even have my life together. That drastic change at her age was a lot. But I admire her for being able to do that. To me, that\u2019s insane, to go to a country where you don\u2019t understand the language and you don\u2019t understand how the system works.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s A Reason We\u2019re Here\u2019<\/p>\n

When I found out that President Donald Trump was re-elected, I was in shock and in denial. I just shut down and doomscrolled on TikTok. It was scary, especially when ICE threats started happening in January and February this year. I wouldn\u2019t leave my house. Even going to work was scary.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t been that scared in a long time \u2014\u00a0especially as a woman and as a person of color, too.<\/p>\n

Since then, I\u2019ve had moments where I was like, \u201cShould I just leave? Should I apply to some study abroad program? Should I go back home to Mexico?\u201d I have family there, but I don\u2019t know them. I don\u2019t have anyone that I know personally in Mexico right now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s glorified to come live here, and it is better, in some ways. But we still lived through poverty here, too, and in middle school, we were living doubled up in someone\u2019s basement. At the time, we relied on soup kitchens and food pantries through the church and other nonprofits.<\/p>\n

When I ask my parents about moving back, they say, as bad as things are here, in their opinion, it\u2019s still better than in Mexico.<\/p>\n

But something my friend says is that all the things that have led up to this point are for a reason. There\u2019s a reason we\u2019re here in the U.S.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always known I was undocumented. Most people have a moment where they find out, but growing up, my parents always told us that life was going to be harder for us.<\/p>\n

Being undocumented is a challenge for sure, but it\u2019s made me who I am. It made me very resilient, hard-working and creative in finding solutions. I wouldn\u2019t have this much grit and dedication to making it work if I weren\u2019t undocumented.<\/p>\n

Reigniting A Love Of Art<\/p>\n

I graduated from college in digital marketing in June 2024. I was a first-generation, undocumented student, but I graduated with no debt because of financial aid and scholarships I applied for.<\/p>\n

When I graduated, I felt lost and unsure of what to do next. I had a degree, but I couldn\u2019t really work without authorization. I also feel a lot of pressure because I\u2019m the oldest of my siblings and the only one in my family who has a college degree.<\/p>\n

But then I think about how my parents did it. They didn\u2019t have a college degree, they didn\u2019t know the language, and they still uprooted their family, and they\u2019re OK now for the most part. If they can do it, I can do it.<\/p>\n

After graduating college, I didn\u2019t think being an artist was a possibility for me. I had wanted to study graphic design, but I didn\u2019t know what a job in that field would look like, so I chose a more business-y career in digital marketing. After graduating, I worked with a small business owner doing social media management.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve always loved art.<\/p>\n

\"\"E works on a mixed media piece at her home studio in Chicago, IL on Oct. 2, 2025. Credit: Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine\/Catchlight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

My first art obsession was the violin. I love the violin: the mariachis, but also in classical music. I would watch the violinist, Lindsey Stirling, and think, \u201cI want to be her. I want to make music.\u201d<\/p>\n

I did orchestra as a kid when I lived in the suburbs, and later, my mom signed me up for a youth orchestra. I always sucked, but I still love music. When I was younger, I would download music from sketchy websites and put it into my MP3.<\/p>\n

With photography, my dad and I decided to buy a camera and split the cost half-and-half. I took portraits of my friends in high school. In college, I stopped because it was hard to find time for my hobbies while working and doing school, but it\u2019s been awesome to come back to photography recently.<\/p>\n

I always loved blogging and documenting. As a kid, my sisters and I made short films to present to our family whenever they came over for Christmas. We would use iMovie and funky sound effects to make our skits.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also always loved artists and musicians. I would binge-watch them on YouTube. I was obsessed with Bad Bunny and other artists like him. But I always saw it as a life that I wouldn\u2019t be able to do. It was just something I watched from afar.<\/p>\n

But over the last year, my life has changed drastically.<\/p>\n

Getting Inspiration From Others\u00a0<\/p>\n

One day, I messaged a local Latina photographer who\u2019s been doing amazing work event curating, art, photography, videography, artist management and music videos. To my surprise, she responded.<\/p>\n

At that point, I had sent a bunch of DMs to people whenever they would post that they needed help with marketing or social media, so I didn\u2019t think she would respond. When she did, I was so excited and thought, \u201cNo way she actually responded.\u201d I\u2019ve been her social media manager since then.<\/p>\n

Seeing how she did it, how she had her own studio, and how she was doing events there and building community in the art industry has made me think, \u201cI want to be a part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been my rock. She introduced me to the art and music industry and showed me that this could be something I could go into, too.<\/p>\n

Before I met her, I wished I knew someone who was undocumented, owned a business and still continued to live their life. I wanted to have a community of people who resonated with me because I know there are so many people out there who are also undocumented.<\/p>\n

Working with her made me want to be more creative again and work on things like music videos and commercials rather than just social media management. Now, I\u2019ve started doing photography again and making art related to my experiences being an undocumented immigrant here in the U.S.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because I\u2019ve connected with mentors who\u2019ve introduced me to the industry and given me possibilities. I\u2019ve thought about whether I could be doing big commercials for Adidas one day, or making a documentary about undocumented students.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have a foundation of people who are there with you and can answer questions about how they did things. It\u2019s one thing to know how to do something, and it\u2019s another thing to hear someone\u2019s experience. Knowing people in similar situations definitely helps a lot.<\/p>\n

What Comes Next<\/p>\n

Recently, I\u2019ve been trying to get into more gallery shows. I\u2019m also currently looking for a studio so I can separate work from home because I work from home a lot of times. I also have undiagnosed ADHD, so it can be hard for me to focus.<\/p>\n

\"\"E displays her zines during the Espinas del Norte art show in Pilsen Sunday, Sept. 15 2025. Credit: Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine\/Catchlight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

I love doing everything. It\u2019s bad because people always tell you to pick one or two things you want to focus on. But I like trying different things. I want to experiment with acrylic painting and paper mache art. I\u2019m not very good at it, but I like doing stuff like that. There\u2019s a lot of things that I\u2019d like to accomplish.<\/p>\n

All of this is in the hope that one day, I can help my family be stable.<\/p>\n

Under an administration like this, it\u2019s scary to go outside, and I want to have the financial stability to be able to pay for my parents\u2019 rent and food, so that they don\u2019t really have to leave their home \u2014 or, if all things go crazy, I want to have the financial stability to uproot and move wherever we need to.<\/p>\n

The media has heavily criminalized Black and Latino people, but I want my art to humanize us where the media hasn\u2019t. People are getting used to the kidnappings where people are just being snatched up from the streets or their homes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and that\u2019s not normal.<\/p>\n

For people who might not be as understanding of what undocumented immigrants go through, I hope they can read my story and see my paintings and be a little more compassionate towards people like me and more understanding of what our journeys are like.<\/p>\n

I hope that when people see my paintings, they can see themselves in my story.<\/p>\n

\"\"E works on a mixed media piece at her home studio. Credit: Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine\/Catchlight Local\/Report for America<\/p>\n

Katrina Pham is Borderless Magazine\u2019s audience engagement reporter. Email Katrina at\u00a0katrina@borderlessmag.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story was produced using Borderless Magazine\u2019s collaborative as-told-to method. To learn how we make stories like these, check out our\u00a0as-told-to visual explainer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by Borderless Magazine.\u00a0Sign up for its newsletter to learn the latest about Chicago\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,101047],"class_list":{"0":"post-357214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-operation-midway-blitz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}