Kansas State University

In solidarity with Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s war with their country, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University is featuring artwork by an artist who himself was displaced as a young child.

Fishers of Men by artist Fidencio Fifield-Perez is a large circular form made of netting, bits of nautical maps and acrylic paint behind an overlay of Tyvek mesh. This striking work represented Fifield-Perez in the exhibition Fronteras/Frontiers at the Beach Museum in 2017 and, according to museum staff, caused some visitors to comment that it resembled a view of Earth from distant space.

Fishers of Men reminds us particularly of those who have braved perilous water crossings, often pursued like criminals and denied access to a safe haven,” Beach Museum director Linda Duke said. “The museum has once more put Fishers of Men on view. Its message of empathy and compassion crosses frontiers.”

Fifield-Perez was smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border as a young child. He grew up with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status. In his work as an artist, he has frequently evoked the misery of immigrants and refugees.

“The recent invasion of Ukraine has transformed millions of ordinary people into desperate refugees,” Duke said. “Whether by land or water, many of them are children and their journeys are dangerous.”

For the 2017 exhibition, Fifield-Perez requested that excerpts from the poem Home by British-Somali poet Warsan Shire be placed on labels for his artworks. The excerpt that accompanies Fishers of Men offers these lines:

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
….
you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land

Visit the Beach Museum to see this work of art!

Image: Beach Museum of Art Exhibition Designer and Building Systems Lead Lindsay Smith installs the artwork Fishers of Men by Fidencio Fifield-Perez. Photo by Theresa Ketterer