It is the first exhibition dedicated to the history of Spanish emigration to the United States at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Its reception, in the Museum of Art of Almeria and whose inauguration took place just over a week ago, is being a great success. Invisible Emigrants’, a work promoted by the Spain-United States Council Foundation and sponsored by Cosentino, has special significance in Andalusia and, specifically, in Almeria, as it is the land from which many of the protagonists of this exodus departed.
In Madrid and Gijón, the first and second stops of this travelling exhibition, ‘Invisible emigrants’ attracted almost 27,000 people. Through more than 300 images, documents, audiovisual material and objects from family albums of the descendants, it has managed to rescue not only the history, but also the cultural heritage of tens of thousands of Spaniards who sought a new life in the United States. Through differentiated stations, it narrates their process of adaptation: from their arrival and their plans to return to Spain, to their resilience and integration in the host country from which, in most cases, they would never leave.
With the support of the Ibáñez Cosentino Art Foundation, Almería City Council and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs, the exhibition will be on display in Space 2 of the Almería Art Museum until 25 June. Until that date, a wide-ranging programme of parallel activities will be held. Among other activities, the programme includes free guided tours by the curators, the filmmaker and journalist Luis Argeo and the New York University professor James D. Fernández, and a colloquium featuring the novelist María Dueñas, James D. Fernández and Christy Tortosa, the last descendant of the important colony of Almerians who settled in Brooklyn, which will take place on 11 May.
Video summary of the inauguration
Complementary exhibition at the Museo Ibáñez in Olula del Río
The arrival of the project in Almería is completed with a complementary exhibition to the main exhibition, installed in the Ibáñez Museum in Olula del Río. This exhibition, also open until 25 June, places special emphasis on Andalusian and Almerian emigration, and focuses on three of the most significant destinations: Hawaii, California and New York, as well as on the figure of the Hispanic-American artist Federico Castellón. This exhibition has the additional support of the Olula del Río Town Council and the Almería Provincial Council.