Laura Hernandez interviewed by Helen Ly
Laura Hernandez, raised by Colombian parents, has a great passion for her Colombian roots. Coming from a family of immigrants, her poster reflects the atrocities that the United States commits to justify undocumented immigrants. Her poster details the detention camps from the children’s perspective, conveying a sense of rage, horror, and helplessness. The detention camps are unjustified, especially when it comes to children. – Helen Ly
Helen Ly What was the inspiration for your poster?
Laura Hernandez My parents are immigrants who came from Colombia to the US so that they could give me and my brother a better life and education. So I like to stand up for other immigrants and when I learned about the thousands of children who also want to live the American Dream, but instead ended up in cages, it really frustrated me. My poster is about those children who are separated from their parents, are stuck in cages with inadequate food and water, and sleep with aluminum foil as a blanket.
HL Yeah I resonate with that. My family are Cambodian immigrants. I think ICE is the issue that needs to be addressed. Have you seen protests about releasing people from the camps? I feel like there’s been a lot of that happening.
LH Yes, I have. There’s been many activists and protestors trying to convince the government to end the detention centers. There’s been signs saying, “Kids don’t belong in cages” and “Families belong together.” I have also seen pictures of what the children inside the cages have drawn. It was basically a drawing of them and others inside a cage, which is what gave me the idea of the style of my poster. I wanted it to be from the point of view of the children and how they would depict their experience.
HL It’s really horrific. Looking at the poster, I was curious about the grey abnormal circles, what does it mean ?
LH Those are the aluminum foil blankets that the children use to sleep with or wrap themselves with when they’re cold. I wasn’t going to add it at first but then I decided to because it shows part of their living condition. It’s sad to see that they don’t have real blankets that can actually comfort them.
HL Wow. You hear about the messed up stuff they do but it’s even harder to imagine what they’re going through. As a Penn student, have you gotten involved in things that reflect the things you care about ?
LH At Penn, I haven’t had the chance yet, especially because the pandemic sent everyone home during my freshman year. I haven’t been able to get the whole Penn experience and involve myself into the community as much as I wanted to. However, since everyone will be able to go back to campus next semester, I will hopefully get involved and be able to reflect on the social issues that I care about the most.
HL COVID has had such a big impact on everyone, so I wonder how that has affected the conditions in the camps, any thoughts?
LH Yeah, definitely. It’s hard to try to avoid getting COVID when the camps are overcrowded with so many people. If the camps can’t provide adequate food and water, imagine how it is with worrying about COVID too. There’s really no way they could social distance and take preventative measures. But there have been photos of them wearing masks so at least they have that. Despite wearing masks, there have been hundreds of cases reported of those kids testing positive for the virus, in which many of them have been deported back to their home country. So, the government finds it easy during the meantime to “expel” them from the camps.
HL Yeah for sure! I really like your topic. It definitely needs to be talked about more. I would love to see ICE get dismantled haha. That’s all the questions I got unless there’s anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about.
LH Thank you! And same, I am also hoping that the Biden administration does better with the immigration issues that exist today. But we’ll see what happens in the near future. That is all!!
Helen Ly interviewed by Laura Hernandez
Helen’s poster is about Big Tech companies, such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google, who tend to be asking and using private information from their users to their advantage. Privacy is such an important factor to everyone who uses these apps, but sometimes it is being violated. Helen wants this poster to get the message across that everyone needs to be self-aware of the information and data shared to those Big Tech companies. – Laura Hernandez
Laura Hernandez How did you come up with your idea?
Helen Ly I know that I wanted to talk about big tech cause it’s our normal now. With covid, it’s made everything virtual. I’ve been learning a lot about the importance data is. It’s crazy how we’re so willing to give up our data. We don’t read the terms and conditions of things because we enjoy technology, using our smartphones, and using social media. So I want my poster to bring awareness about the dangers of big tech companies like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon using our data information. I guess my point is to be cognizant of how these big techs are using our data.
LH That is very true. I feel like there is no privacy anymore and all our private information is given to those big tech companies. Especially these new generations who are using technology at such a young age can be at risk. I seem to notice that the “B” in “Big Tech” is glitching on and off. What are your intentions behind that glitch?
HL It wasn’t my intention at first but now I feel like it works with the poster to show that big tech is not error free. We should be careful of how much trust we’re giving to technology. I’m pretty compliant with it too. I have all the socials you can think of Twitter, Facebook. I’m a big iPhone user. My friend recently got me the Apple version of Alexa called a HomePod. I was a little anxious to give it a try but it’s been nice having it. I kind of have allowed myself to accept that my data is being taken because we have no control but i think it’s important to be self-aware. The poster mimics the book “1984” by George Orwell. Big brother is watching you type of style.
LH I can also admit that I am very compliant in giving all my info to these companies. Most of the time, I’m never phased when giving out my data, but now I acknowledge how important it is to be self-aware on what we share. And yess!! I noticed the resemblance of Big Brother is Watching You! I love how you made the top and bottom set of eyes move and then just left the middle one staring directly back at the viewer. Did you want the viewer to feel some type of emotion by this? Maybe uncomfortable?
HL Yeah I wanted to make people feel creeped out. It’s not super obvious in the same way our data collection is subtle. We should be uncomfortable with how much freedom big tech is using our data. It’s disguised as a means of privacy but then we see on social media like Facebook where Mark Zuckerburg is using the data on Facebook for his own interests. I just remember the whole 2016 presidential election fiasco. Our privacy was violated.
LH Yeah, I remember – that was a whole mess. With many technological advancements and even more social media apps developing, what do you think will happen to our privacy? Will we be more exposed or will there be strict measures taken to prevent violations of our privacy?
HL We would be more exposed. I feel like we’re already seeing the effects of big tech profiting off our data. You could argue that it provides a better user experience but then what does that mean for privacy? Privacy is more important than ever now. I guess I feel like we should figure out how to manage that. Technology gives us more agency and power but Jeff Bezos are altering the way we live. I can’t say what the future will hold but I’m definitely cautious.
LH That does make sense. I really hope they find a way to keep our privacy protected because I feel like they’ll lose at the end of the day if everyone distrusts them. Anyways, it was great to know more about your poster and your thoughts about big tech. Do you have any last comments that you’d like to cover?
HL I’m good. Really enjoyed our discussion!