Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erika Hirugami. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Erika, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As a transnational first-generation Mexican-Japanese immigrant, formerly undocumented, I founded CuratorLove to center the needs of my people and utilize the tools of the contemporary art world to secure resources for my community.

Each and every member of the undocumented, migrant, and immigrant artists and art creatives alike is an essential part of the creative industries of the contemporary art world. CuratorLove is a social impact enterprise that stands for a more equitable environment where immigrant, migrant, and undocumented creatives can thrive in community.

At CuratorLove we advocate, support, champion, produce, curate, exhibit, and aid in the creation of projects by undocumented, migrant, and immigrant artists and art creatives.

Erika, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a professor, a curator, a policy advocate, and a curatorial theorist.
A few years ago, I returned to academia to complete my Ph.D. The scholarly research I’ve been doing in the past few years has made me cognizant of the flaws of the curatorial field, as well as museology and most gallery work, especially as it pertains to immigration, migration, and undocumentedness. By and large, across the industry, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion works failed to acknowledge migration as part of their actionable agendas.

My most recent body of work in policy includes a policy report entitled “Undocreatives” (undocumented members of the creative industries: artists, arts administrators, and cultural bearers). This policy report serves as a witness to the undocumented labor force of the LA creative industries, an essential community within the arts sector. Today, there is a widespread lack of awareness of this segment of the population within the arts and culture community, underscoring the need for improved systems and practices to promote the inclusion and vitality of undocumented artists and arts professionals.

My practice is part academic, part policy-driven, and part curatorial. My latest curatorial work is a string of unique exhibitions around the topic of “The Aesthetics of Undocumentedness.” I also recently co-founded the UNDOC+Collective alongside Federico Cuatlacuatl (artist/professor). Through the UNDOC+Collective, we seek to build knowledge and visibility regarding the undoc+ spectrum, as guided by the cultural competency, expertise, wisdom, and vision of undocreatives working in the arts today.

Through exhibitions, publications, residencies, symposia, digital resources, and convenings, we construct collective knowledge to spotlight historically excluded practices, reclaim and empower our collective experiences and narratives, celebrate our aesthetic achievements, and shape the future of undocreatives working in the contemporary art ecosystem.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My current goals are collective in nature. I want to research, exhibit, curate, archive, present, champion, and celebrate the knowledge and work of undocreatives across the country.

By honoring, centering, and uplifting the individuals in the undoc+ spectrum, my goal is to nurture a sustainable creative ecosystem axis by undocreatives for the betterment of the future of my community.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As of recently, the most rewarding aspect of my practice is creating undoc+ safe spaces where my community can exist without having to be fetishized, tokenized, or citizensplained. Existing beyond the performative demands and labor inflicted by the host society is truly freeing. It is in this spaces where we thrive and generate knowledge in community for the betterment of ourselves and our people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.curatorlove.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curatorlove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CuratorLove
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirugami/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXh2UPsjp_L5bQEzw2Us2vRUXRXuU69Fg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Tv3wT71S3HNWXZHPs8EZL

Image Credits
Self Image (teal suit with flowers) – Photograph by Mercedes Zapata Entre Nos – Photograph by Morgan Ashcom Symposium image – Photograph by Leo Zhang Table with people – Photograph by Leo Zhang Blue figure dress – Photograph by Bella Martinez Taco Image – Photograph by Karley Sullivan Books – Image courtesy of Erika Hirugami Group Photo – Photograph by Leo Zhang Graduation pix – Photograph by Maria Evelyn