ALBA OLEA
Thesis One
"No Sanctuary" 2025
Mylar film, masking tape, acrylic paint, alcohol chrome paint, wood dowel, metal ceiling clips.
My work often begins with the language of law, how it is written, how it is enforced, and how it shapes the lives of those it names. No Sanctuary focuses on a specific policy from the Department of Homeland Security, which states that immigration officials may enter places of sanctuary to detain individuals. Presented without explanation, the text sits plainly in the space, open to interpretation and confrontation.
No Sanctuary responds to the ongoing immigration crisis in the United States, where due process is increasingly denied not only to undocumented immigrants but also to those who have entered the country legally. In a time of political division, fear becomes a tool. The idea of safety, or sanctuary, is shown to be unstable.
Masking tape, chrome and acrylic paint mark a roll of mylar film suspended by wooden dowels and metal clips. The mirrored surface does not offer clarity but implication. As the viewer encounters their own reflection alongside official language, the question becomes harder to ignore: could this be me?
Check out See it. Feel it. Exhibit Catalog --->
Thesis Two
"Alligator Motel" 2025
Cardboard, Craft paper, hot glue and hanging wire.
Approximately: 130" x 43" x 7' area
In continuation of exploring how art intersects with the law. Alligator Motel remains In conversation with prior artwork No Sanctuary, challenging the immigration protocols that currently infringe on human rights.
This work focuses on infrastructure and how it's used to enforce immigration policies, in specific talk with the current Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center. Made completely of cardboard, a prison scene sits in space. Conceptually calling out the unstable structure and materials the detention center is constructed out of. Sterile and implicating a broken system that is fragile but most of all at the will of the surrounding harsh environment.
With people dying under inhumane conditions, families wonder where over 1,800 loved ones have gone. Detained and disappeared from ICE online databases, you wonder what is truly going on behind closed doors?
Check out Clock In. Clock Out.
Exhibit Catalog --->
