Jennifer Lugris
American Dream is a portrait of my father featuring his story in American English and Uruguayan Spanish. It reads "My dad illegally came to the US with only $200 in his pocket. He married my mom, opened a business, and retired at age 48. My whole life, I’ve tried to live up to that standard but I’m realizing now that I’ll never be as cool as my dad."
The words in Spanish appear more illegible than the English ones as he assimilates to become a United States citizen.
I grew up in a blended household where ‘asado’ was eaten with ‘kimchi’ and where dinner conversations seamlessly shifted from English to Spanish to Korean and sometimes even Galego. Growing up, I received many quizzical looks as individuals attempted to grasp and piece together my varied, ethnic background. My artwork seeks to normalize the mixed race experience. I earned my MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018. My award-winning artwork has been exhibited and published internationally. Solo exhibitions include Verge Center for the Arts, Richmond Art Center, Merced College, and Maturango Museum, among others. I currently live in Sacramento with my family and teach at Sierra College.
Jennifer Lugris, American Dream 2021 Ink on United States currency
Jennifer Lugris
Beyond Face Value, by Dr. Brenda Romero, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Sacramento State
What would you do with $200? Depending on who you ask, it might be enough to make the monthly car payment, buy groceries for a week, or get a fancy pair of shoes. The value we perceive in money is in the eye of the beholder. In American Dream, by Jennifer Lugris, that dollar amount symbolizes a crucial moment in her father’s life story. Like most immigrants, he arrived to this country with hopes, dreams, and not much in his pockets.
Each of these bills—as any piece of paper currency—has had a unique journey. In this case, after dwelling in various wallets, touching different hands, and perhaps traveling long distances, these notes are now retiring from circulation. They are abandoning their ordinary roles as cash to become canvases for a piece of art. In fact, their value now surpasses the denomination originally assigned to them. They tell a transnational, bilingual, and multigenerational story that began with $200.
This extraordinary transformation resembles the success stories of those immigrants, who against all odds, achieve their American dream. The worth of everyone who comes to this country is often determined at face value—based on the color of their skin, the religion they profess, their national origin, or their level of education—without recognizing the contributions that they will make or envisioning the potential of who they can become. The language barrier is frequently the first of many hurdles that immigrants must face. Some arrive to this country young enough to master the English language naturally while others, despite being able to communicate, often become victims of accent profiling. A non-native pronunciation is wrongfully perceived as a flaw, a sign of weakness, or even inferiority, when in reality it implies a rich cultural background packed with different flavors, traditions, and points of view.
The resilience, motivation, and hard work of immigrants often goes unnoticed. American Dream exhorts us to go beyond racial and social constructs to embrace the stories of all individuals who inspire us to believe in ourselves and achieve our goals. Lugris’ creation incites us to free our minds of biases and labels, see each other as people, and celebrate the accomplishments of fellow humans; whether their stories are narrated in English, Spanish, or any other language, printed on a best-selling book, a plain piece of paper, or a couple of one-hundred-dollar bills.