2 artists share their stories as their work gets featured in Brooklyn's Hall Street migrant shelter
CLINTON HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) -- An art gallery recently opened to an invite-only crowd inside Brooklyn's Hall Street migrant shelter, run by New York City Health and Hospitals.
Workers at the agency noticed two prolific artists were among the thousands of men staying there.
One of them, Roger Miranda, had been busy painting under the BQE.
In only a few months, the 67-year-old Venezuelan former professor created abstract portraits of his journey and the immigrant experience.
"La forma que caracteriza un movimiento del punto de vista," Miranda said.
Miranda's knowledge of art history and form is encyclopedic.
He's an expert on Picasso among others.
Crossing the border with young migrant families and making a tough journey through Central America wasn't the way he expected to arrive in New York.
"No era muy formal," he said.
He said he would have preferred a legal channel, and now he's here he's taking every step to legally apply for asylum.
"Las carreras estas de los oficios de las artes," Miranda said.
He says the anti-democratic regime in Venezuela made it dangerous for intellectuals in arts and higher education.
Now he's drawing inspiration from his surroundings in New York City and his profound gratitude.
"Conocer el Metopolitano que es uno de loe tesoros mas grandes del mundo es una maravilla para mi," he said.
He calls the Metropolitan Museum of Art one of the world's treasures.
The work of Marcos Ferrera Batista, meanwhile, captures some of the more raw and painful aspects of the journey.
"Se queda grabado en la mente," said Marcos Ferrera Batista, an artist.
The Brazilian native, who is camera shy, says his mind grabbed onto the facial expressions of young people who'd experienced some of the darkest inhumanity along the dangerous path.
"Los imagines que tu ves en la ruta," Ferrera Batista said.
Like a little boy who was blind, protected by his brother. A teenage girl was sexually assaulted.
"Se pasaron muchas cosas Fuertes," he said.
He says so many awful things affected him in those months, a year ago.
He's not sure what ever happened to these young victims of horrible circumstances, but he still lives with the pain in their eyes.
Images the New York City Health and Hospitals is hoping more people will get to see and understand.
Both artists hope to stay in New York and keep creating. Miranda hopes to have more shows and maybe teach again.
Ferrera Batista hopes to create a book someday of the powerful images that continue to haunt him.
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