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The World Cup has officially landed in Miami, with the first game at Hard Rock Stadium scheduled for Monday, June 15, and matches continuing through Saturday, July 18. The global tournament brings with it parties, fan festivals, wild traffic and fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns. In response, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is encouraging local artists in host cities to use their skills to protest the agency’s potential involvement.
The Horizons Project asked artists to create works to demand ICE stay away from stadiums, watch parties, and local businesses during the tournament. Its latest project, No ICE in the Cup, prioritizes curating public art, hosting local soccer matches and cultural events, and building a community network across the 11 host cities, including Miami. Paola Mendoza, an artist and activist working with the nonprofit, along with other Horizons Project committee members, worked to commission original poster art from one artist in each host city.
“What we’ve seen in this country since Donald Trump was elected is violence in our community specifically directed from ICE,” Mendoza tells New Times. “We’re living in this moment where democracy is crumbling in this country, and we’re seeing unprecedented violations of rights and unprecedented moments of government corruption.”
While U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has assured that ICE agents will not be deployed to stadiums, activists remain skeptical. Several players have faced Visa complications in trying to enter the country in the early days of the tournament, and United States Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has confirmed immigration enforcement will still be part of ICE’s operations in Miami.
So, what role can artists play in countering those fears?
“The reason we went to artists is that we firmly believe — I firmly believe — that art and artists have a particular role in all of this — in fighting back,” explains Mendoza. “We wanted to bring artists into the fold and take a stand and say that soccer is a game of the world; soccer is a time for communities to come together, to be with one another in safety and in joy, and the threat of ICE at this moment in time during the World Cup needs to stop.”
Commissioning a Miami artist
In selecting artists to commission for the 11 main city posters, The Horizons Project wanted to ensure that each one connected with the issue. Miami’s Johann C. Muñoz-Tapasco, chosen to create the local poster, explores social justice themes in his work, making him an ideal pick for the No ICE in the Cup campaign.
A painter and photographer by trade, Muñoz-Tapasco began dabbling in graphic design and poster art about two years ago. And that’s not the only evolution he’s made along the way.
“In the last ten years, I’ve been grounding my practice in a more socially engaged way…There is a place for art in liberation movements,” he says.
Born in Colombia, Muñoz-Tapasco immigrated to the States in the late 1990s. He lived undocumented for a decade, so when Jordan Seaberry of The Horizons Project reached out about submitting a piece, he felt it was kismet. “It was a good opportunity to merge our worlds and our missions,” he says.
Alligator Alcatraz
Muñoz-Tapasco’s piece is meant to be educational and act as historical memory. It features an alligator emerging from the water and chomping on a soccer ball. Surrounding the graphic, the artist included information and phone numbers for people who might be detained by ICE.
“This poster became an amalgamation of data points,” he says. “There’s the image of the alligator, which is iconic to Florida. At the same time, I think the image of the alligator shredding a soccer ball is a humbling reminder that this land is ancient land and that the new soccer stadium that was built — it’s part of the newer history of Florida. It’s an acknowledgment of the people that came before, the detention center, as well as the overdeveloped architectural facade of the city.”
The inclusion of the alligator was partially a nod to Alligator Alcatraz, the infamous Everglades immigration detention facility. While reports are circulating that the facility may close in the coming months, Muñoz-Tapasco wanted to ensure that people don’t forget about that awful stain on our history.
“I think art has this opportunity to bring people’s awareness to something that other mediums cannot,” he explains. “People are tired, desensitized, and overstimulated. And I think art has a way of subconsciously, and sometimes very gently, creating these spaces where people are invited to question censorship.”
The Horizons Project invites people in host cities to download the posters, hang them on their walls, or use them as street signs for the duration of the World Cup. Find all 11 posters at noiceinthecup.us.
