Jesus Was a Brown Child Seeking Asylum is a billboard project erected during the holiday season to call out the privatized detention centers of immigrants, including family separation and unaccompanied minors, as cruel and unusual punishment for asylum seekers. The first iteration of this billboard series (commissioned by Artpace San Antonio) was installed for the month of December, 2020 in Dilley, TX across from the South Texas Family Residential Center, the then largest family detention center in the United States. The 2021 version will be auctioned as an NFT with proceeds used to purchase a billboard near the largest migrant children holding facility, Target Lodge Pecos North ICF in Pecos, TX.
The video Jesus Was a Brown Child Seeking Asylum is a rendering of the proposed billboard with a background of floating clouds against a soundtrack of far off highway noise. The white text is on a dark starry night background. The auction proceeds will pay for the actual placement of the billboard and a higher sale price will extend the duration. Raised in an Evangelical Christian household, Yang has experience with the often hypocritical nature of religious zealotry. By installing the billboard in a state where 77% of residents identify as Christian, Yang seeks to expose the dissonance between Christian values and the government’s migration policies. The artist has partnered with Lydian Stater to feature the NFT.
Commissioned by ArtPace San Antonio. Image credit: Riley Robinson
The billboard was erected across the street from the South Texas Family Residential Center, the then largest family detention center in the United States in 2020, during the month of December for the holiday season.