CLEVELAND — As immigration continues to evolve across the country, a new storytelling campaign is launching Thursday in Northeast Ohio to spotlight the immigrant community that calls Cleveland home.
A photograph has the power to convey stories that words often cannot. Among the photos on display at LAND Studio are those capturing the journey of Max Rodas.
Rodas, now the executive director of Nueva Luz Urban Resource Center, came to the U.S. 45 years ago when he was just 12.
“My family was brought here during the revolution of the '50s, to Cleveland,” said Rodas.
Next to his photo is Esther Ngemba, a Congolese chef, entrepreneur and creative director. She arrived in Cleveland in 2011 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“My family fled a civil war in 2005,” Ngemba said.
Both Rodas and Ngemba have built their lives in Cleveland, but they acknowledge that the environment for immigrants today isn’t as welcoming as it once was.
“It's tough. I mean, we cannot dance around that. I think that the motivation of this campaign is to change the narrative,” said Rodas.
“I have seen some of like the negative, where people sometimes will ask me, 'Do you have papers? Are you documented?'” Ngemba said.
These experiences inspired Patrick Kearns and others to create the “You Mean the World” storytelling campaign.
"We got together with the idea to share these stories in a way that was highlighting the positive impact of immigration in our area, not just today, but for decades in the past,” said Kearns.
The project was a collaborative effort involving numerous individuals and organizations. Through 22 powerful photographs, the campaign tells the stories of immigrants from four continents, representing 18 nationalities who now call Cleveland home. It also sheds light on immigrants' significant economic contributions in Ohio.
“Over the years, while the faces have changed and while the stories have changed, the overarching truth is the same. Newcomers come here. They add to the fabric of our community,” said Kearns.
Photographer Sharon Hughes of Sharon Hughes Photo says her goal wasn’t just to take portraits, but to capture identity.
“A lot of these portraits were the in-between moments that I felt spoke to the individualism of each person, and that's sort of what I wanted to communicate, that this is a collection of photos, but each person is unique,” Hughes said.
The reality is this: while each individual may come from a different country, Cleveland is home to all.
“Who's an immigrant, a mother, an entrepreneur, a teacher, someone who wants to build a regular life, someone like you,” Ngemba said.
“I’ve lived here all those years, and I go to Guatemala, I go to other places. I travel a lot, but I’m going to come back here,” said Rotas.
The exhibit's grand opening will take place on Thursday at 5 p.m. at LAND Studio.
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