An Amulet for a City & An Amulet for the Journey

An Amulet for a City and An Amulet for the Journey are participatory embroidery projects in which community members come together to make little amulets, bags filled with salt, to give to migrants as wishes for strength and protection as they make their journeys. 

Both Amulet projects extend from Sculpting the Silence, an immersive installation art work by Tamara Cubas, an Uruguayan artist. 

The amulet workshops activated the stories of migrant journeys and generated questions like, What keeps you going? Where do you find shelter? 

An Amulet for a City took place in April 2023 at the Sculpting the Silence exhibit at Ex Convento del Carmen, Guadalajara, México, in dialogue with the installation. It was co-presented by Escuela de Artes, ITESO Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, Sociedad Cooperativa de Salineros de Colima, FM4, Teatro Línea de Sombra, Secretaría de Cultura, Jalisco, MOIRA Narrativas en tránsito, and Hemispheric Encounters. 

An Amulet for the Journey took place in February 2024 at the historical Antigua Estación Ferroviara, Tapachula, México and was co-presented by ITESO Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, Teatro Línea de Sombra, Hospitalidad y Solidaridad – Integración Sin Fronteras (Tapachula), Estación Ferroviaria, Comité Comunitario Tapachula, and Hemispheric Encounters. 

The Amulet workshops were co-produced by Alicia Laguna Castillo from Teatro Línea de Sombra and Alina Peña Iguaran, Professor at ITESO and co-lead of the Hemispheric Encounters Mobilities Cluster.