“Belonging and community are often elusive to immigrant students. Our art project engages them to tell their stories through images they make and words they select, to communicate what they want about their new life. “Sanctuary City” is a multifaceted view of Kingston, America, and their native countries.”
– Wendy Ewald, “Sanctuary City” leader
“Sanctuary City” is a multifaceted, multi-phase public art project in Kingston, New York, led by artist and MacArthur Fellow Wendy Ewald, and hosted and funded by the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW). The initiative uses photography and text to explore critical themes of immigration, belonging, and language.
Phase One: September 6, 2024, to June 11, 2025
The root of Sanctuary City was an after-school program at Kingston High School that focused on Ewald’s Literacy Through Photography (LTP) curriculum. It empowered seventeen immigrant youth enrolled in the English as a New Language (ENL) program to use visual storytelling to investigate their identity and community. This phase, directed by Ewald with assistant and facilitator Reyna Martinez, culminated in a gallery exhibition at CPW’s Community Gallery titled Sanctuary City that ran from June 14 – July 6, 2025. The exhibition presented the students’ poignant images and writing, all focusing on themes of community, family, and dreams.
Context: Kingston is an immigrant city, home to families from multiple Central American countries. Students from these families often face hurdles in adapting; a sense of belonging is elusive when they aren’t part of the representations they see around them. Ewald’s well-established, cross-disciplinary pedagogical approach prompts students to describe their world through photography and text, offering immigrant youth a powerful vehicle for self-expression and self-affirmation in their new home.
Phase Two: August 4 – October 3, 2025
The project then scaled up for its second phase, “Sanctuary City: Alphabet.” This free public photography program invited creators of all ages, not just high schoolers, to re-imagine the building blocks of the “American” language using words and definitions in English, Spanish, and Bengali. Participants worked at CPW to create a multi-dimensional alphabet—letters/words, images, and writings that serve as cultural self-portraits. These artworks will be enlarged onto massive banners for prominent public display both at CPW and throughout Kingston. The aim is to catalyze civic discussion about immigration, belonging, and language. The inaugural installation, scheduled for 2026, will cover the facade of CPW’s 40,000 sq ft brick building in the heart of midtown.
Note: To complete the public installation of this vital project, CPW is seeking $60,000 for artist and technician fees, city permitting, and banner printing and installation. Your generous support at this critical time will help assure that “Sanctuary City” can be fully realized and that the voices of Kingston’s immigrant youth can echo throughout the city. Please email CPW Director of Development Liz Ruffa at liz@cpw.org to inquire about supporting this program.
