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Photo by Timothy Schenck

Paola Pivi

You know who I am

December 2022 - February 2023
Location

On the High Line at 16th Street

Paola Pivi’s You know who I am is a large-scale cast bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty wearing various cartoonish masks. The masks, which will be changed over the course of the installation, are stylized portraits of individuals whose personal experiences of freedom are directly connected to the United States.

Learn more about Forbah, whose mask was featured on the sculpture December 2022 to February 2023:

Forbah is a social justice advocate from Cameroon. In 2017, Forbah was forced to flee his country due to persecution under Cameroonian President Paul Biya’s regime. He flew from Cameroon to Ecuador, then made the treacherous journey north by foot to the US-Mexico border. He arrived in the United States in 2018 and was detained in three Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers for almost a year until he was granted asylum. In Cameroon, Forbah became involved in politics at an early age. He advocated for Cameroonians’ basic human rights, co-founded multiple organizations to widen access to education and health care, and collaborated with the Southern Cameroon Council to protest the discrimination of English-speaking people in Cameroon.

Forbah was arrested several times in Cameroon for his activism, which included participating in rallies and political meetings and celebrating independence day on a date other than the date preferred by the regime. After his last arrest in 2016, Forbah heard that he was going to be transferred to the Kondengui prison—a prison in the central region of Cameroon notorious for its extremely inhumane and harsh treatment of prisoners. He felt his life was at risk. After 40 days of detention, Forbah’s release from prison was organized and a flight out of the country was arranged. After only a night of recovering from the beatings and malnourishment he suffered in prison, he was placed on a flight to the nearest country that did not require a visa: Ecuador.

Forbah, who had left everyone and everything he knew behind in order to save his life, arrived in Ecuador with $110 and what he had on his back. He decided he would go to the US to apply for asylum after being faced with anti-Blackness from locals who used derogatory words for people who looked like him, and learning of the path to get to the US on foot.

After a bus journey to Colombia, he traveled by foot through jungles, crossed the Panama Canal, and continued through Central America and Mexico, along with other migrants from different countries. The perilous journey took about two and a half months, but to Forbah, it felt like years. Forbah tells of the traumatizing experience of witnessing the deaths of several other migrants making the journey along with him, likely from starvation.

In January 2018, Forbah reached the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego. Because he was on US soil without a visa, Forbah was immediately detained and taken to a room known as “la hielera” (the ice box), a temporary holding facility that exists all along the border. “At times there were 20 of us, not enough space to lie down,” he recalls. Over the next weeks, he was transferred to two other detention centers where he was imprisoned for almost one year. It was five months before Forbah saw a judge for the first time and hen he was finally granted asylum, it took another month until he was released from detention. To this day, he doesn’t know why he continued to be detained after being granted asylum.

The most shocking aspects for Forbah were the criminalization of immigration and the psychological trauma. He experienced abuse and discrimination at the hands of law enforcement at the ICE detention centers, where he was verbally attacked and denied basic necessities. Upon his release, Forbah was dropped off at a Greyhound bus stop. It was about 7pm, and he had only $8 in his pocket and no warm jacket. A passerby let him use his phone to call a sister who was living in the US. The passerby overheard the call and gave him $20 for a warm meal. His sister bought him a ticket for a flight leaving that same night.

Today, Forbah lives in a small town in Texas with his family. His immigration experience has influenced his work. He co-founded Cameroon Advocacy Network and, with other immigration advocacy organizations such as Haitian Bridge Alliance and the UndocuBlack Network, they were able to pass the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) law for Cameroonian asylum seekers in 2022. Forbah also collaborates with the UndocuBlack Network, which works through advocacy, local organizing, and building strategic alliances to advance policies that impact Black migrants who are seeking safety and building their lives in the US. The UndocuBlack Network is a multigenerational network of current and former undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources, and contributes to transforming the realities of Black immigrants.


Learn more about You know who I am.

Artist bio

Paola Pivi (b. 1971, Milan, Italy) lives and works in Anchorage, Alaska. Recent solo exhibitions have been featured at institutions including Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark (2020); The Bass Museum, Miami Beach, Miami, Florida (2018); Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia (2018); La Rinascente, Milan, Italy (2017); Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas (2016); FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon, France (2014); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2014); Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2013); and Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2012). Public solo commissions include High Line Art, New York, New York (2012) and Public Art Fund, New York, New York (2012). Notable group exhibitions include Io dico Io – I say I, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy (2021); Trittico, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); and Senso Unico, MOMA PS1, New York, New York (2007). Major international exhibitions include the Yokohama Triennial, Japan (2018) and the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy (1999).


Support

Fonderia Artistica Battaglia aims to share their historical expertise in artistic bronze, initiating contemporary artists into the practice. You know who I am was Pivi’s first artwork cast in bronze; the team at Battaglia guided her throughout the fabrication process.

Paola Pivi, You know who I am, is made possible, in part, by an in-kind donation from Matteo Visconti, Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milan, and support from Perrotin and Massimo De Carlo; with thanks to the engineering firm Pro Iter, Milan.

The title You know who I am was conceived by Karma Culture Brothers.