We’re excited to provide a glimpse into artist Linh Dao’s work in progress, Decriminalizing Immigrants (2022). A digital space that explores the “port of entry” to citizenship and life in the US, this piece continues to expound upon themes Dao has been exploring in her work for some time, notably in Immigrant Documentation (2018). Floating around the space will be words from “The New Colossus,” the poem by Emma Lazarus that has stood in the Statue of Liberty since 1903, and is synonymous with American immigration. The viewer will also be able to explore abandoned boats, symbolizing the journey to citizenship, and liminal structures, symbolizing the destination. Immigrants in the United States are often caught in legislative limbo, and Dao hopes to illustrate that isolation and dehumanization in this new digital space.

:::

Linh Dao, Decriminalizing Immigrants (2022). Unfinished. Digital media.

:::

Linh Dao’s piece from Issue 12, Immigrant Documentation, is being resurfaced for our 20th anniversary issue.

Learn more in our Q+A with Dao.

:::

Linh Dao bio photo

Linh Dao is an interaction designer and educator whose creative and scholarly work explores the intersection between identity discourses and the development and implementation of creative and emerging technology. Her areas of focus include emigration, immigration, and migration, social and economic inequality, minority representation, and accessibility. Linh has exhibited both internationally and nationally, as well as published through IASDR and AIGA DEC. She has been awarded several design awards, including an Indigo Design award, Graphic Design USA awards, and a Creative Quarterly Design Category award. Her list of clients include American Cancer Society, Nonprofit New York, Rutgers’s National Institute for Early Education Research, New York Historic Districts Council, and San Francisco’s GLBT+ Historical Society Museum. She is currently an assistant professor of interaction design at California Polytechnic State University.