October 2017,
Cleveland City Hall, 2nd floor
Presented by The Bishop Pilla Italian American Studies Program at JCU and the Hon. Consulate of Italy in Cleveland & Ohio

October celebrates Italian American Heritage Month. While our communities in the U.S. commemorate the invaluable opportunities that immigration to America afforded millions of Italians at a time of profound economic crisis in the motherland, it is important to acknowledge the role that Italy, itself, has been playing in a more recent past to become the “land of dreams” for a new generation of immigrants. The background of Mexican migration in Italy has been documented since the displacement of religious people in the early 20th century and currently remains mostly within immigration statistics. Using photography by Karla Guajardo Ro, the exhibition records the history of a group of Mexicans who decided to relocate permanently in Italy. These are images of a migration seen from a social point of view. The project focuses on the largest groups of Mexican immigrants: the religious one, those who emigrate for marriage contracts, students that remain by choice when they finished their university studies, and people who came from Mexico to work in Italy. Every story is accompanied by a portrait of the person in their place of work.