The Teen Council is convened through the generous support of Astoria Bank, The Bay and Paul Foundations, Con Edison, the Ferriday Fund Charitable Trust, the Leon Levy Foundation, and the Michael Tuch Foundation. BHS programs are also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State legislature; and supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Brooklyn: A New Home, A New Life
Teen Council exhibition
Overview
As they watched the Trump administration’s Muslim ban and subsequent restraining orders move closer to the Supreme Court, Teen Council Members identified immigration as the timely and broad topic for 2018.
They analyzed how concepts of “us” and “them” lead to stereotypes of immigrants and considered how race and immigration have intersected differently across eras. They sought to strike a delicate balance between the range of immigrant experiences across time, culture, and individual life trajectories. Council members grappled with ongoing, unifying themes related to living away from the land of one’s birth— language, cultural fluidity, code switching, and American immigration law and policing.
The resulting exhibition, Brooklyn: A New Home, a New Life, features stories about historical Brooklynites: Harriet Judson, John Roebling, Nathan Handwerker, and Shirley Chisholm; as well as Ravi Ragbir, a contemporary immigration activist. The people featured are not all immigrants, but each represent a different lens into the story of American immigrants, and show, without a doubt, how Brooklyn has been shaped by the many international ties within its vibrant and varied communities.
Detail
Thursday, May 31, 2018 - Sunday, May 26, 2019
