10/01/2026
Arte de Lágrimas Begins Its 2026 Exhibition Season
We are grateful to begin the 2026 exhibition season of Arte de Lágrimas: Refugee Artwork Project at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.
Founded in 2014, Arte de Lágrimas creates public spaces where the artwork and stories of refugees and asylum seekers can be encountered beyond the political rhetoric that so often defines conversations about migration. At the center of the project are works created by young migrants whose journeys brought them across the Texas–Mexico border in search of safety.
On Sunday, September 27, Dr. Gregory L. Cuéllar presented “Migration as Liberation,” reflecting on Psalms 120–122 alongside the artwork of displaced children and youth. The exhibition continued as part of St. Andrew’s Migration with Dignity Prayer Vigil on September 30, bringing together art, testimony, prayer, music, and community.
For Arte de Lágrimas, exhibiting these works is about more than displaying art. It is about creating spaces in which people who have experienced displacement can be encountered through their own creative expressions—their memories of home, experiences of migration, fears, hopes, and visions of belonging. The project has carried these works into churches, schools, and community spaces as a form of public education, remembrance, and advocacy.
This is only the beginning of our 2026 exhibition season.
Over the coming weeks, Arte de Lágrimas will continue traveling to new communities, creating spaces where art can invite us to see migration not simply as an issue, but through the lives and voices of people who have experienced it.
Arte de Lágrimas: Refugee Artwork Project
Art. Migration. Memory. Dignity.
