IOM, UNICEF, and UNESCO join the exhibition on human mobility, “Between Borders and Roots,” organized by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Mexico.
At the Museo Vivo del Muralismo in Mexico City, the multidisciplinary exhibition “Between Borders and Roots” portrays people and their stories of human mobility as part of cultural wealth and diversity, as agents of social change, rights-holders, and contributors to sustainable development.
The exhibition was inaugurated on International Migrants Day (18 December) and is an initiative of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), through the General Directorate for Educational Cooperation and Outreach, in collaboration with IOM, UNICEF and UNESCO. It will be open to the public until May 2026.
The Jacobo and María Ángeles Workshop, from San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, carved figures of María, Jacobo, Ricardo, and Sabina aboard a canoe to welcome visitors and convey the tension between the longing to depart and the desire to remain, as well as a steadfast resilience. The work simultaneously represents millions of Mexican families living in this “dispersed Mexico” and the culture that accompanies them.
The contemporary mural Displacements by artist Alberto Castro Leñero is also part of the exhibition and engages in dialogue with the historic brushstrokes of Siqueiros. Through figures in motion and a network that evokes maps and fractures, Castro Leñero invites us to reflect on transience and the relentless search for a new home.
As a contribution through UNESCO, photographer Alejandro Flores provided unpublished images that are part of the documentary Stories in Motion, which are displayed alongside photographs from IOM’s fieldwork in Mexico.
The short documentary films “Sak ta tsoj” by Alan Ricardo Palma and “Borders” by Camila Alejandra Olivo Gámez, Fernando Guillermo Álvarez Sánchez, Juan Diego Monteleón Flores and Mayra Macías Cruz are also screened.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Graciela Báez Ricárdez, Director General for Educational Cooperation and Outreach of the SEP; Gloria Angélica Falcón, Director of the Museo Vivo del Muralismo; Dana Graber Ladek, Chief of Mission of IOM Mexico; and Astrid Hollander, Head of Education at UNICEF Mexico.
Adolfo Rodríguez Guerrero, Programme Coordinator of UNESCO’s Education Sector in Mexico, highlighted the importance of education and art working hand in hand to awaken sensitivity to the human condition, challenge prejudices, and show how people on mobility contribute to reducing inequalities and advancing sustainable development and peace.
