Coming to America: The Immigrant Experience at Perry Arts Center

The exhibit, “Coming to America: The Immigrant Experience” by Georgia artist, Andrew Sabori, along with 35 of his portraits of famous immigrants like Dr. Albert Einstein, Carmen Miranda, Desi Arnaz, Harry Houdini, Bob Hope, and Elizabeth Taylor, are on display at the Perry Arts Center until December. Documentation (some original) such as naturalization paperwork, passport applications, census documents, manifests, and more, accompanies the paintings as well. His famous immigrant portraits are meant to reveal how deeply our culture is intertwined with influences from millions of immigrants, many of whom made incredible contributions to the development of the United States. Also included in the exhibit are photographs of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, the hospital and dining hall located there, and Sabori painting the mural with students (Sabori had high school and college art students assist him with some of the background painting).

     Sabori’s 19-panel mural is a re-creation of the one painted by muralist Edward Laning in 1938 that hung in the Ellis Island dining hall, once called “Alien Hall.” The murals act as narratives that chronicle the founding and building of America by pioneers from different countries. They depict wheat harvesters, coal miners, blacksmiths, railroad workers, and arriving immigrants. Although Sabori’s mural consists of 19 panels and took approximately five years to complete, at nine feet tall and 90 feet long, it is about half the size of the original. Laning’s mural, entitled “The Role of the Immigrant in Industrial Development in America,” was only eight panels and took three years to paint, but it stood 10 feet tall and 190 feet wide.

     Most of the original mural was destroyed in the 1950’s when a storm damaged the roof of the dining hall, but portions of it were salvaged in 1970. These surviving pieces are currently displayed in a Brooklyn courtroom for naturalizing immigrants. In 2003, Sabori visited Ellis Island to learn more about his ancestry and noticed a tiny black and white photograph of the original mural. He immediately became intrigued and inspired, and after months of research, decided to recreate it in a smaller scale.

     Ellis Island was America’s primary immigration processing station from 1892 to 1954 and processed over 12 million immigrants. After long and arduous voyages by sea, passengers stood in long lines waiting for legal and medical inspections that determined if they were fit to enter the United States. Approximately 80 percent entered successfully within hours, but others were detained for days or even weeks. 5,000 – 10,000 immigrants passed through Ellis Island daily but roughly two percent were denied and sent back to their home countries due to reasons such as criminal backgrounds, insanity, or contagious illnesses.

     “Coming to America: The Immigrant Experience” is currently open (and free) to the public on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; however, starting in August, the exhibit will be available for viewing every Thursday, but the exact hours have not yet been determined.